


What's worth keeping is worth fighting for

by Nightalp



Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: But only a bit, F/M, Loki is innocent, M/M, Mpreg, Not Captain America: The Winter Soldier Compliant, Not Thor: The Dark World Compliant, Snarky Tony, Thor is an asshole, Tony Stark's kids, and helping Tony raise his kids, bit angsty, let's call it loki-cent ..., much less angsty than it sounds, the Avengers living together, well ... more or less
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-08
Updated: 2016-06-15
Packaged: 2018-03-06 17:57:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 23,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3143426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nightalp/pseuds/Nightalp
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thor, god of thunder, storms, oaks and - fertility.</p><p>Tony Stark, genius, billionaire, playboy, philantropist and - pregnant.</p><p>This is not the story of how the Avengers tossed Thor out of their team because he impregnanted on of theirs without warning. Or of how Tony planned Thor's downfall for years, and then succeeded with the help of Thor's brother.</p><p>No, this is the story of what happened between that - the story of Tony running around pregnant, of raising kids that are both the most remarkable Tony ever called his and the most frightening that ever happened to him, too. It's about battling illnesses unknown to humanity, and finding out how different Aesir and Humans really are.<br/>It's also the story of how Loki came into the Avengers' life, and how he and Tony found love and peace in the most unexpected person possible.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Wrote this when I shpuld have been writing something entirely else, but wanted a more snarky Tony instead ...
> 
> It's not finished, but I have written 5 chapters so far and I guess there will be 5 more, though I can't tell when this will be.
> 
>  
> 
> Beta'ed by the amazing [evilwitch66](http://archiveofourown.org/users/evilwitch66/pseuds/evilwitch66//).

Everything began when Tony and Pepper broke up.

Well, not  _everything_ , because that sounded as if Pepper was to blame, and she wasn't. Pepper was great, she stuck around and organized everything and, well, Tony would be absolutely lost without her. No, Pepper was absolutely  _not_ guilty. She was as far from guilty as one could possibly be.

What began when they broke up was the drinking, and not even that was entirely correct, because Tony had been drinking more or less regularly since he was thirteen and breaking up with Pepper had only been another reason to get spectacularly drunk, get banged into a mattress (mostly his own, but sometimes hers, or his', or theirs) and wake up hung over the next morning. Repeat as wanted.

Just ... that he didn't get drunk with just  _anybody_ that one night, and that the person he got screwed by was Thor. They didn't even go out, just stayed in - and it wasn't even that he planned to get drunk with Thor. It was just ...

There had been problems with the new tablet SI was planning on releasing a few months later, someone had screwed up along the line and no-one had noticed it (Pepper had a list of people to get fired for him ready to sign when he arrived at her office, and he fully approved of her dumping the people responsible for watching for mistakes rather than the person who actually made it).

He had had to be there early in the morning for an emergency meeting about whether they should try to keep the release date or put it off a few more weeks (and he really wasn't sure why  _he_ was expected to attend - wasn’t that what he had Pepper for?). Then Doom decided to set a museum on fire, which would have been fine with Tony (he really wasn't into modern art) had he evacuated the building beforehand. Naturally the super villain didn't even have the good grace to surrender gracefully (as Loki had done three years previously, and damn if Tony didn't admire the man's balls in the way he had done it still) but just vanished into thin air.

So, there he was -  _alone_ (because Pepper was taking this CEO-business waaaay more seriously than him) and the rest of the Avengers were either out on missions, in Calcutta (he was grateful that Bruce was on-site to support the construction of the mother-and-child-support house Tony and Pepper had planned there, but damn, there were times he wished his friend was more than a voice in his ear) or bonding with other agents at a bowling center (yes, Clint, that would be you)). But it was more than that - fighting against Doom had once again shown Tony that there was no real way to save this world, not to mention the amount of young mothers(-to-be) that applied for Bruce' help that told better than any word that humanity was meant to self-destruct. Combined with the lingering ache of having lost Pepper as his lover, the pain in his side where he had collided with a particularly thick pillar of the museum in the evening (and damn, he still had to repair his suit) and the feeling of having been used that the previous night out had left him with he really wasn't up to more company than himself, a few bottles of alcoholic beverages, and maybe Jarvis (as long as he was on mute).

Three glasses of scotch in Thor turned up and by then he was just inebriated enough to invite him to his lone party. And if things got a bit more sexual after that until Tony let himself get screwed by the guy?

Well, this was just Thor, wasn't it?

Thor, his friend. A bit dumb, friendly, always happy to help out. Good colleague, good drinking buddy. Nice guy.

Thor, God of thunder and  _fertility_ . Who happened to forget to tell Tony that getting laid by him means getting pregnant, woman or not.

Thor, who thinks that cheating on his girlfriend (who Tony totally forgot with a lot more alcohol in his blood than was considered safe) is nothing when it happens while he's drunk and when it's with a man.

Thor, who thinks that sticking around and standing by the man he got pregnant (fuck, Tony can't believe he's thinking this thought. Can't believe this is his life sometimes) is something a god doesn't have to do.

Well, Tony didn't tell on him, but Jane's an intelligent woman. She saw Tony getting round in the middle and sick in the morning (well, morning for  _him_ ), Pepper searching for kid's clothes, and the Avengers throwing Thor out of the team, and she added it up alright.

The next time Thor turned up at her door, she opened it up just long enough to explain that she didn't want to get banged by an asshole, threw his things at him and closed it again.

Then she proceeded to call Tony to tell him that she was still working on the Einstein-Rosen-bridge and that she would fully support him should he decide to use it to kick Thor in his divine ass.

Tony would have kissed her had she not been on the other side of the continent.

  
  


Of course that came later. First there was his aching head (and oh man, did he have a hangover fit for the drinkingbuddy of a Norse god) and cramps in his stomach that he attributed to the same source but found out later were signs of his body producing an uterus and other productive organs under the influence of said Norse god’s magic.

Really, the next day was hell. Even  _HELL_ , because really, how else do you describe such a heavy head, and cramps and vomiting your guts out? Tony didn't even realize that Thor was gone (he hoped the asshole had been suffering like him but was well aware that him going home for more merriment was more likely) until late afternoon when two water bottles, half a package of aspirin (Bruce would have his head for that but all he cared about at that moment were the drums behind his temples) and a few more hours of rest had cured him of most of his hangover and Clint appeared to ask him whether or not he still had some of that awesome caramel-and-almond ice cream they had at their team evening the previous weekend.

Well, he deserved the shoe Tony had thrown after him.

It didn't occur to him to ask himself if something was wrong until two weeks in when the vomiting began. Not that Tony could do anything right - the (to put it diplomatically) unusual hours he kept meant that he got neither morning sickness nor evening sickness but  _midday_ sickness - at the perfect time for his first meal of the day.

Since he could keep food down at any other time pretty well he didn't consult a doctor (or anyone, really) until Bucky found him a week later leaning over the toilet and puking his guts out. His loudly voiced protest that nothing was wrong with him (which everyone ignored, as usual) got even louder when the doctor could find nothing and then came to a shocked stop when the ultrasound (and Tony really wasn't sure how the man came to the conclusion he should do an ultrasound of all things) showed him having organs he shouldn't have (and never had before - and at Pepper's insistence he had been subjected to so many tests after his return from Afghanistan that he should know his own body inside-out). And not only that - they were obviously used as the doctor explained to him though he recommended to visit a gynecologist - yesterday, if somehow possible.

It took him until they were in the car until it sunk in and he realized he was  _pregnant_ .

_PREGNANT_ .

Like ... like all the women he had always feared would one day show up with his kid (it had never happened - he had always used condoms. He used them even with men, fearing to catch or carry on any possible number of diseases one could catch between the sheets. He was so good at it he could roll one on as long as he wasn't too inebriated to have sex at all).

Once,  _only_ once had he not used it, thinking that his alien nature would make Thor immune to every human disease ... well, once is enough, as they say.

To say he freaked out would put it mildly. He screamed at Happy to drive him back to the doctor, at Pepper for letting him get drunk with a freak like Thor, at Steve for being away on a mission that night, and most of all at the (absent) Thor for not warning him.

It took them a  _very_ long while to calm him down, and Tony was just glad they didn't hold his behavior against him.

After - after they had reached the tower, and managed to get Tony up to the Avenger's levels, after they calmed him down and bribed him with tea (Tea! Fucking Steve!) and honeyed cookies and called Bruce -  _after_ they made him sit down in the living area. All of them - Tasha and Clint (who canceled their dance course without a word when they found out what had happened), and Steve and Bucky and Pepper, Happy and Sharon and Maria and Rhodey on the screen and Bruce on the phone.

And they asked just one question -  _do you want to keep it?_

Maybe this was the kind of decision that one should carefully weigh. Maybe he should have waited for a few days, long enough to  _really_ make up his mind.

He didn't care.

Sometime between getting told he was carrying a child, being out of his mind in fear and having been made to sit down the  _thing_ in him - the thing that was half asshole-Thor and half gorgeous-Tony - had become  _more_ than a thing - it had become  _his_ thing.

And if there was one thing that Tony was it was being very possessive, and very protective of things that were  _his_ .

So when they asked him whether he wanted to keep it he just smiled a very,  _very_ unpleasant smile - the kind of smile you show death herself when she is coming to get you - and they began planning.

  
  


Carrying a kid - or, more accurately,  _two_ , for it were twins as the perplexed gynecologist had informed him - proved to be more stressing than Tony had ever thought and he got a new kind of respect for the women who birthed more than one child. Not to mention the media running wild and several religious groups claiming the kids as their saviors (they shut up - or at least kept their distance - after Clint used his exploding arrows on them. And if Tony ever again saw one of them running up the street in a silver or gold Viking helmet and a red tunic he would use them for target practice for his repulsors, bad media or not).

And that didn't even took into account the differences between Aesir and humans.

Since Thor - and Loki, who was, adopted or not, the only other Asgardian they had the misfortune to meet - both weren't bigger than a normal human the doctors estimated the kids wouldn't grow bigger than a human newborn, but even they couldn't foresee the way they grew: the first heartbeat could be seen in the twelfth week, while they didn't even have other organs at this time, and then proceeded to have functioning lungs within days. And their vertebra grew in a month and a half later.

And then the hormones! It shouldn't be possible, but Tony's body was actually producing female hormones, which meant that not only his own virility sunk but also his breasts grew - he really,  _really_ hoped that this was reversible.

And it made him eat!

Fuck, there was that one time ... well, there were many times if he was honest. Times when he found himself craving for something. He had heard of it before, of course, but he had never really believed in it. Now ... well, his friends could probably fill entire books about pregnancy-cravings now.

Like the time when he had been alone in the tower save for Bucky and Sharon (that was two weeks in, when Bruce was still in Calcutta to wrap things up - he hadn't even needed to turn pleading eyes to the man for him to come help him through this (Tony loved Pepper and Rhodey and the Avengers, but they had no idea of medicine. And he simply mistrusted doctors. Of course that was before he met his midwife)). They had been in the common room playing a computer game - he didn't even remember which anymore - when he had suddenly gotten this appetite for ice cream. And not  _any_ ice cream -  _banana ice cream_ . Complete with little red sprinkles on top.

Yet it is not easy to get banana ice cream, least of all when no-one living in this tower harbors a special appetite for it.

It was the first time this happened and he was just winning - okay, he did remember now; it was this racing game because Bucky loves it who-knows-why, and Sharon had made comments about him never driving a car while she was in it - so he decided to ignore it.

Just, the feeling didn't go away. It got stronger, and stronger, and  _stronger_ , until he was practically racing in a car made from waffles along banana-buildings and every shop was selling ice cream like in these surreal dreams they always show in movies.

In the end he just threw his controller away and ordered Jarvis to tell him the fastest way to the next ice-cream parlour.

Bucky caught up with him when he left the building - fucking enhanced body - and Sharon while the ex-assassin was still trying to understand what was happening.

Fortunately the woman understood, because Tony himself still had no clue.

So yeah, carrying an Aesir's offspring was  _argh_ .

And let's not get into walking when you weigh around as much as a small elephant (the kids might not be bigger than human unborn children but they were a good bit heavier and  _ouch_ did his back kill him). He had been banned from active duty after the revelation - not that he had wanted to risk losing his kids by way of getting hurled into a building - but that meant they were now two members short and Maria Hill - who had become their new SHIELD liaison after Phil had decided he would rather have a new team; she wasn't as bad as thought as they found out while she was working for SI after the breakdown and temporal disbanding of SHIELD - was keeping him busy helping with strategies and technical support.

Not that that was as easy as he was used to. There were several things he just couldn't do anymore in his lab because it might end up hurting the babes, and later he couldn't even bend down anymore over the pumpkin that had been his six pack-belly once. And to make matters worse even Dum-E, You and Butterfingers - not to mention  _Jarvis_ the mother-hen - had picked up that something was wrong and he got more chlorophyll-shakes and fire-extinguisher-showers in that months than any person should have in their whole lives.

If not for the kids - and the fact that his nipples now were incredible sensitive and made pleasuring himself (hell was he ever going to let himself screwed again)  _very_ pleasuring indeed - he would have thought that much more of a deal breaker.

Not to mention that a human pregnancy might be 9 months, but an Aesir’s was more - at least the 11 and a half that Tony carried his kids until his body tried to get rid of them by way of an opening he didn't even possess.

  
  


But all of this was manageable. Because the real stress started only after the twins were born.

Not because they were difficult. Hell, no! Carolina had the most beautiful smile ever, and Lucas was an angel, all the time laughing and neither cried too much.

No, they were sweet and nice and everything a young parent could dream of.

They were also sickly and weak and Tony feared they might not live to see their puberty.

Lucas had barely been born when the doctors found him having a heart defect and he was rushed into an emergency surgery. Tony couldn't even be there for him - he was still mostly out from the pain killers they had him on after the Caesarean, and was more than grateful that Pepper was there to take care of everything for him and the babes. When he came fully back to himself Lucas was out of surgery but still staying in the newborn section of the center, having two Avengers to watch over him because they all knew that Tony Stark's kids would make valuable hostages (Tony pitied anyone who dared to touch his child while Bucky or Tasha were watching over him - being ruthless and of the mind that children shouldn't be abused in any way they made the best bodyguards his kid could have).

Tony wasn't allowed to really hold his boy, but he held his daughter, and looking down at her, at the small features, the dark blond hair and blue eyes that could have been traits of her semen donor or just the coloring of newborns, the way she blindly turned her face to his warmth he knew that he would do anything to keep her safe. This kid -  _these kids_ \- were innocent of every blame he laid at Thor's feet, and he may not have wanted children, may have been scared at first and only slowly came to accept it while his belly grew, but now, standing there in the infirmary at the bed of his son who was almost invisible between the cables reading his life signs and the hygienic white sheets, and holding his daughter in his arms, he knew that he loved them more than anything and that he would do everything in his power to be the father he had always wanted to have himself. 

 


	2. Chapter 2

Caroline was okay for the time being and so they all went home a few days later when Lucas got better, Tony hiring a nurse to watch over the boy while he recovered.

It was, maybe, the best time he had, even with the worry about Lucas and neither of them letting him sleep through the night.

Oh yes, night sleep ... dark rings under the eyes were the new black as far as Tony Stark was concerned, as one of the newspapers titled it when they got a photo of him wandering bleary eyed over to the Starbucks across the street because his friends insisted he  _"needed to spend time in the sun."_

No, but really, he  _was_ sleep deprived. He never would have thought that could happen to him - he had been awake for days on end countless times when the science muse hit him - but trying to sleep only to be woken again after a few hours when one or both of them wanted to eat or had to get a fresh diaper or _just woke and needed to be calmed down again_ and they always,  _always_ both cried for attention and to be carried around until they were asleep again wore even him down.

And he couldn't make one of the others stay awake for him - somehow the villains thought this a good time to attack and the others needed their sleep - though every now and then Bucky or Steve offered to take them for one night and since they were both capable to manage with little sleep he actually let them.

And there was the problem with the milk. The best thing for kids was to breast-feed them, but Tony couldn't produce enough milk for both of them (how the damn was this his life?!) so he had to feed them bottled milk, too. That wouldn’t have been so bad if not for the fact that somehow his sweet little devils had decided that they both by far preferred to drink from Tony's (abused and begging for mercy) nipples

And let’s not go into  _breast-feeding in public_ . Tony had seen lots of women do it - in the park, in the restaurant, at the playground, really,  _everywhere_ . Even more after he found out he was pregnant himself and paid more attention to such details (and not only mourning that those women were either bound or at least not available for fucking at the moment, beautiful breasts and lactation-kink aside; and fuck, did that mean he was now part of that category as well?!). But once  _he_ pulled up his shirt over his (small, almost girl-like and hopefully someday receding) breasts everyone was staring at him as if they had never seen a playboy genius billionaire with questionable friends breast feeding his babies before. Really, all this narrow minded people out there ...

But in the end, all of this was nothing. The kids were healthy so Tony contemplated letting the nurse go, and they were sleeping through the night much faster than expected, not to mention their sunny nature when they were awake. They didn’t even suffer three-month colics.

So yes, Tony was  _happy_ . Honest to god happy.

It was the last time before he knew that his kids were so fragile.

Because after that the nightmare really began.

Caroline proved to be easily affected by every virus, every lung ailment there was to be. The first time they called for the emergency doctor the nurse was still there, being the one that kept Tony's little girl alive until the doctor arrived, and keeping Lucas safe from whatever harm might have come to him when Tony frantically grabbed for his boy because he wasn't allowed to hold his daughter while she was coughing so violently that she wasn’t able to draw breath.

The diagnosis wasn't terrible - Caroline just needed an infusion of cortisone and the doctor assured Tony that while it might happen again and he should keep certain things at hand she would outgrow it. But there was some suspicion settling in Tony's subconsciousness, like a thought or memory he had half-forgotten, and when Lucas came down with a bronchitis mere weeks later it became dreaded reality.

While there were more than enough stories of gods laying with mortals, and of the mortals giving birth (most of them were stories about the wedded spouse of said god getting very, very jealous) there were only a handful of demigods running around in mythology.

As if only a handful reached an age where they could be the heroes their heritage made of them.

Tony knew that he might be overreacting - maybe his kids were an anomaly; his mother had had two miscarriages after him that he knew of, so who knew what he had passed on - but when his kids continued to get every ailment looking their way he knew that he was right.

No wonder Thor hadn't even acknowledged what had happened when he knew that they would die anyway.

This thought made Tony, if anything, just more determined to keep them alive, hoping that they would really outgrow their fragility with puberty as the doctors estimated (based on human normalcy, at least).

  
  


But there were still  _years_ between then and now - even more than Tony might have realized, because the kids proved to grow at a different rate than human children. Not faster, or slower, simply ...  _different_ . It took a year for them to even sit up, and then, only a few weeks later, they walked and spoke their first words. Even more, they began running and play fighting and Tony suspected that maybe being a warrior was really what Aesir were wired to do (though with the amount of fighting in his tower that was another possible source for where they could have gotten that inclination from).

The fact that there was no Aesir around to tell him what to expect didn't make things easier. They grew teeth when they were ten months old, but only the front ones - was that normal? Or should Tony be worried ( _he was worried anyway_ )? There was a small red spot appearing right above their ass growing rapidly that the doctors told him seemed perfectly healthy (and Jane assured him Thor had also). Their lungs were almost a third smaller than a human's, their heart bigger - normal? They weighed almost half as much again as a normal kid their age, but then their skin had a density humans could only dream of and their bones seemed to be made of lead  (at least they were heavy enough for that) . And the fact that they scorned at everything vegetable, even threw up when they were fed too much of it until Bruce examined their digestive tract and came back with the report that they were virtually unable to digest anything but  meat products, which meant that maybe they would get that ability later in their lives (they did - the rest of their teeth grew in when they were a few months past their fifth year, and when they carefully had them eating vegetables and bread then they had not the least problems anymore). But until then they happily munched  steaks and goulash and even raw meat when no adult was there to watch them (surprisingly they never caught one of the illnesses one could get from  _that_ ).

Oh, how Tony wished he had scanned Thor when that still had been a possibility. Now he had to make do with what he had accidentally gotten and what he still had from Loki (who was no Aesir _at all_ if what Thor had said was true).

Worry was his constant companion, made him hire the nurse on a permanent basis (Daniel knew the kids and their adults by now and the kids had come to see him as another constant in their life anyway; he could also cook and when Tony found that out he simply tripled his wage and invited him to take one of the empty apartments in the Avenger's floors as his own) and acquire a lot more equipment than anything but a children’s station at a hospital normally had. Not to mention all the books he read, the lectures he attended and the midwife that almost became his friend as often as he called her (she was actually the only person that hadn't freaked out over a man suddenly having an uterus and being pregnant).

Some nights he spent trying to calm down kids that didn't recognize him in their fever, not getting any sleep himself because he was even more freaked out by it than the healthy sibling was. Days he couldn't focus on anything but the kid sleeping fitfully in the kid's room (the room next to his own that used to be an office and later Pepper's room when they broke up; there had been no question about it being the nursery as long as the kids were that fragile and needed someone near enough, even if it meant having to carry the furniture down from the larger room that had been originally intended for them). 

It meant villains he almost beat to a pulp because they endangered children (acting-out pedophiles he hunted down in his spare time and castrated himself before dumping them at the next hospital). Outings at the playground he spent listening to mothers and fathers (most of all a sadist called Theodore who enthusiastically spread his wisdom won from four kids aging between 4 and 15 and who told Tony everything he never wanted to know about what he was in for when his girl grew into a boy-hunting teenager). 

Really, sometimes he regretted the day he bundled his (then three-year-old but looking like little more than two-year-old) kids into their parkas - red for Lucas and a black one with yellow stars for Carolina -, got them and all the supplies needed for kids-outings into the buggy and then called for Bucky and Steve who would act as bodyguards today - they had all agreed that going out with the kids alone was a Bad Idea.

The day had been a nice autumn day, golden trees and golden light and warm enough that the kids shouldn't catch anything as long as they were careful. Of course, going to the playground meant having to deal with potential germ-carriers (aka other kids), but previous outings had shown that this was not so much a concern, probably because their immune system was something both Bruce and the  _real_ biologist Jimmy that Tony had taken from his project for SI and set on this (he actually trusted that guy - he had been working for him for years now and passed every background check with flying colors) still couldn't fully work out. So yeah, no problems with most of human-killing viruses but instead a lot of other problems by bacteria/viruses/whatever that human immune systems killed in their spare time.

But back to that outing.

They had barely arrived there when Steve was swarmed by kids and mothers alike who wanted his autograph. Nothing new; Steve might be able to hide without his Captain-America-get-up, but since Bucky refused to wear gloves to cover his arm and Tony didn't have the time to work on synthetic skin he was a dead give-away, and everyone with two brain cells could equal  _blond guy_ in the company of the Winter Soldier and Tony Stark and his kids to  _Captain America_ , even when said Captain wore jeans and shirt (well, maybe even more then, because,  _really_ ? Who  _wouldn't_ want to take a closer look at this skin-tight-jeans-clad-ass and the sixpack and muscles and ...  _yummy_ )

So it was really just Bucky and Tony who helped the kids get free from the buggy (not that they needed it), told them again not to go with strangers and to not leave the playground and off they were.

Since Bucky was all they needed to watch over them and Tony still lacked sleep from the last week when Carolina had been caught up in a fever, leaving her sweating and hot through the whole night and exhausted in the day while both Tony and Daniel had gotten barely any sleep at all he decided to seat himself on a bank next to the sand box and get a few minutes of shut-eye. Really,  _these kids_ \- one day you fear they were gonna die, the next they were cursing you because you don't allow them to run as wild as they want.

Not that Tony wasn't thankful that his little girl was better again.

It was maybe half an hour of blissful sleep later that someone sat down beside him.

That was unusual, to say the least. Normally people either left him alone or came up to him to ask for his signature as they - yep, as they  _still_ did with Steve. Though the boy scout seemed to have moved on to teach some kids some game they probably only played back in the forties.

Back to the person next to him. He was a bit bigger than Tony (meaning  _too big_ ) and quite obviously partly Asian. He was also as obviously here with his kids - a struggling small kid of undefined age that was playing in the sand with his bucket and shovel (building probably a miniature Everest), an older child running away now in the direction of the slide, and the last one, probably a boy, though the baseball cap and the denim jacket could be deceiving, killing something on their tablet.

Tony shuddered - it was an  _iPad_ .

"Three kids?!" Well, Tony had never been good at staying quiet, and even three years after the adventure he still remembered that he wanted to  _never ever again_ be pregnant.

The man grinned and turned to him, showing a long scar from under the left eye till the mouth. "Four. But the oldest is at home - she can't be bothered anymore to come out with her old dad." He didn't really seem to be bothered by that, nor by the scoff the Apple kid gave. Instead he continued, grinning, if possible, even wider. "You're lucky" he nodded to where Carolina was making awfully real looking sword moves with her stick while Lucas tried to steal a ball from two kids who were maybe six years older than him - his own was probably not green enough, and it didn't have these delightful yellow stars. "They're still young. Believe me, the worst comes when they get interested in other boys than their daddy. Well, or girls, probably."

Again a scoff from the kid on the other bank and the man admitted in a sheepish tone: "Well, I've been told that's only because parents are so difficult to deal with once you reached the mature age of seven. Thank God my youngest is still years away from that."

Finding himself liking the man despite himself Tony returned the grin. "Boys, girls?"

"Three girls, one boy. And I really hope my little man here isn't going to be as difficult as my girls are - at least I won't have to worry about him getting pregnant." Pausing a moment he looked at Tony before continuing: "Though I may have to re-think that again ..." Shaking his head he offered his hand. "Theodore."

"Tony Stark." Well, as if someone didn't know that ...

"I know", Theodore grinned then as expected. His next words, though, weren't expected, but gratefully received nonetheless. "And let me tell you, I don't care what people say - you people have done the right thing throwing Thor out. Don't care what they think - if he's not man enough to stand to the gir-boy he got pregnant he's not much of a hero."

At first most people had had the same point of view, but later, when it became obvious that Thor would have made a difference in fights, the calls got louder for Thor to return to the team.

It meant a lot to Tony that no-one, not even Maria or Fury, suggested they should let him come back.

And it meant a lot that this stranger thought the same.

"Thanks." Well, what else was there to say?

And when Tony asked him for when he would return to the playground with his kids so they could meet again? Well, that was just so he could squeeze any possible knowledge about how to raise children right out of the man. It didn't mean that he liked him (though he did) or that he wanted him as a friend (he got him as one anyway).

And when Jessica joined them later? Hey, she had three kids, too, and her second, a girl, was just old enough to play with his twins and more than happy to have two half-alien-friends. It was totally  _not_ Tony's fault that they ended up celebrating their birthdays together, or that they were adamant that they would visit the same preschool.

Totally  _not_ Tony's fault, really.

  
  


But it wasn't only their fragility that changed life in the Avenger's tower. Having Lucas and Carolina around meant someone had to stay at the tower all the time, and it couldn't always be Daniel - while he was always just a call away he needed time for himself as well. So that meant outings with the Avengers were now accompanied by the buggy or (at least in the first years) two persons - most of the time Tony and Steve - carrying the kids in a cloth on their back. It meant someone had to stay sober when they were drinking (well, Bruce was always sober, but he wasn't always the best person to handle the kids. And Pepper refused to decline every drink as well. Which meant that Tony never started really drinking again after he stopped for the pregnancy), and that they had to be careful what they were saying (having Caroline scream loudly  _“Motherfucker!”_ all over a press conference had been ... memorable. Though Tony blamed that one at least on Fury).

But  even with  all this worrying, all this rearranging of lives, this botherin g,  was it more than  worth  to si t next to their bed  i n th e evening and watch ed them fall asleep, reading them stories so they would have pleasant dreams (once they started speaking they began to understand so much faster that now, with six years, they were even better than human six-year-olds). It was worth it when Tony was woken up in the morning by the clatter of tiny feet creeping over the rug and sweet kids trying to startle him by flinging themselves on him in the bed (and Jarvis the traitor was in on it and never woke him up). Or when they cooked and Caroline sat there, earnestly spreading the silverware and plates out while Lucas tried to help Steve or Daniel or Bruce or Bucky (and who would have thought that the ex-assassin could  _cook_ ?) prepare whatever they were preparing for a meal. Or when they were just playing in their room alone, singing or drawing or ...

Tony loved them, simply.  _Always_ .

The rest of the Avengers loved them.

Pepper and Rhodey adored them, not only because they were sweet and polite and everything Tony was  _not_ but because they stopped Tony accidentally killing himself (he had never understood what they meant until he felt that fear for the first time that he could die during a supervillain attack and leave his kids without a father - he never  _ever_ took  _too_ stupid risks anymore).

Phil loved them.  _Maria_ loved them (it didn't matter that she called them little shit-eaters - they all had seen her slipping sweets to the kids and somehow she never called them names when they were around). Fuck, even Director Motherfucker Fury loved them (his reaction to being told had been a big surprise. It was still during Tony's pregnancy and the Avengers had been cited to him to explain why Thor had stomped off to Asgard without a word to SHIELD. When they told him Fury had stood still for a long moment, his face expressionless while the Avengers had seen their life run up before their eyes when suddenly his eyes narrowed and he had spat  _"Motherfucker!"_ in a tone of deepest disgust. Tony could have kissed him in that moment - just don't tell him).

Well, even the shareholders loved them, the kids being the next generation of Starks, not to mention the fact that they were incredibly smart. Maybe it was them being Tony's children, or their Aesir-gene-induced different growing, but they beat every IQ-test the doctors threw at them, and after watching Carolina build her own switch circuit and trying to fix the toaster Tony never came around to fixing because it reminded him too much of that asshole of their sperm donor who never managed to understand it he took her down into his lab and showed her how to really play with electricity.

And Lucas ... when Tony would retire someday he was confident that Carolina would take over the R&D effortlessly, and in Lucas Pepper had found her best possible successor. He followed her to meetings whenever possible, and was better in reading people than even Bruce sometimes, not to mention his own voiced wish to have his sister work for him one day (Carolina had thrown her butter knife after him with scary accuracy the one and only time he had voiced that in her hearing range, and Tony pretended not to see the approving look Natasha threw her way while he told her that, as good as she was, in his tower no-one threw knives at their siblings)

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it. Next chapter will bring both Loki as well as more dialogue ... I have to admit, the first two chapters were once a 1500-2000 words part that I included ever more detail because I wanted to show Tony's life during his pregnancy and his kids' early lifes in more detail ...
> 
> Thanks to [evilwitch66](http://archiveofourown.org/users/evilwitch66) for being an amazing beta-reader!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, really, I should be writing on the next chapter of Protector ... but I'm stuck at the moment (can please someone call my muse back from her holiday?) so here's another chapter of Tony and his kids. As promised, it's a bit different than the first ones - Loki's appearing, and there is dialogue! Hope you enjoy, and would be delighted to read from you.
> 
> Again, beta-read by the amazing [evilwitch66](http://archiveofourown.org/users/evilwitch66).

Everything could have gone on like this - the Avengers were happy (well, they were still working on making  _Bruce_ happy - he just  _never_ went to the blind dates Tony and Clint set up for him), the kids were healthy and growing out of their childish fragility and the people became used to super villains (mostly) giving a wide berth to New York and especially Avengers tower.

It could have been so great - the kids were due to attend school this year with Clara (Jessica's little witch who had managed to make herself almost a triplet to Tony's twins despite being more than one year younger), Sharon was pregnant herself while Rhodey and Tasha toyed with the idea themselves, too. And Maria, it had been revealed, actually already  _had_ two kids which had come to live in the tower after a rather difficult divorce from the asshole of her ex, explaining why she had known how to handle the twins so well. And it was probably better not to go into the story of the four-year old that had been left on the tower's steps three years previously with a note stating the babe was Sam's (it was. Bruce did the paternity test himself, then had Jimmy redo it). Let's just say that despite being a good bit younger Phillippe was as much a part of their home as Susan and Helena Hill were.

Yes, it could have been great - if not for that damn tentacled alien coming down on earth. It wasn't even really evil in itself - after they had managed to isolate it (they would have brought it into a SHIELD-base, but, well, even they didn't have holding cells for twenty-meter-high aliens with tentacles that ranged until to another forty meters) and Fury called one of his extraterrestrial contacts (not even Tony knew where he had gotten  _these_ from) they found out that it was a very friendly and quite intelligent animal that had probably only tried to get back into his natural element. That the next watercourse, the Hudson river , had been on the other side of New York had been the only reason such a destruction had happened at all.

Since the alien was big, but very light-weighted, Maria arranged for a transport by quinjet for the creature, taking it into a separated part of the ocean, while the rest of the Avengers returned to the tower.

In retrospect it was more unusual that it hadn't happened earlier, but neither of them had thought about it then.

Nor did they think of it when the kids began to fever again - it was reason for worry, as always, but not unusual.

Not until the fever stayed unbroken by everything first Daniel and Bruce, and later the doctors at the hospital could give them for it.

They first thought of it when first Lucas, then Carolina, too, turned yellow because their livers failed , not to mention that Lucas' cardiac defect became a problem again, and that both of them had to have a tube in their noses so they could breath.

"This is not a human sickness", Bruce said at last, and well, they should have thought of this, shouldn't they? That some day one or the other of the aliens would bring an illness with it that would infect the children, but not their human family.

And despite everything Jimmy and Bruce had done the past seven and a half years - they were still far away from fully understanding the metabolism of the kids or how to cure an illness that might come from it.

Still, both of them were working on it, but sitting here between their beds in his quarantine outfit - the doctors were not sure if the germs could adapt to humans through the kids' hybrid metabolism -, looking down at his sweet innocent kids almost swallowed up by the white sheets of the hospital beds and the tubes and cables feeding them liquids and oxygen, their normally rosy skin now colored a sickly whitish yellow, their eyes big and glazed over when they looked at him for help and hope, Tony could barely keep himself from crying.

They were so young, so small! Where was their life, their vigor? How could fate be so cruel as to take these kids when it had spared the life of the drunken wastrel of their father, or the asshole of their semen donor? They were young, and full of hopes and dreams to change the world into a better place; they did not deserve to die before their dreams came true.

For the first time he understood what Steve had went through when his friend Peggy died, but in a way this was worse - he was their father, he was not supposed to let them down, to  _survive_ them. He should not be so hopeless, so helpless, while his little kids looked at him, begged for him to make the pain stop.

He should not have to look while the painkillers dripped into the infusion that ended in small, fragile hands.

Should not be grateful that they were asleep now, preserving their strength to survive a few more hours … days, maybe.

"You have done a great job raising them. Protecting them."

The voice was ... anything but unknown. And considering he normally only heard it in his nightmares Tony shouldn't be surprised to hear it now that his  _whole life_ had turned into one.

Still, survival instinct kicked in - even more, his  _mother-bear-instinct_ ; he would not let anyone hurt his kids, least of all the brother of the asshole that had left them to die in the first place.

Jumping up and whirling around he stood to fend the god of, a growl of " _Loki ...!_ " already escaping his lips, when he saw that the man wasn't even looking at him.

He was looking at the kids. And not in the way Thor had, when he had last looked at Tony's belly. There was no incomprehension, disgust, or even just that feeling of superiority he had sported the whole time he had been on earth the last time he was here.

No, if anything he was looking ... caring?

Blinking he felt himself deflate, though he still kept on the lookout for a sneak attack, carefully observing his kids' visitor.

"What do you care?", he asked, his voice much less hostile than he would have liked, almost ... curious?

"They are my niece and nephew." The answer seemed genuine, as unreal as that was.

But then this whole scenario was unreal, wasn't it? Tony and Loki, here, at his kids' ...  _deathbed_ ... talking like ... if not  _friends_ , then certainly good acquaintances.

And Loki didn't look as he did the last time Tony had seen him. Gone was the armor, the long hair, the crazy look and wild air. Instead he was wearing a neat green tunic over black leather trousers, both adorned with tasteful golden decorations. His hair was neatly cut to barely brush his shoulders, and his whole demeanor just seemed calm,  _caring_ .

Not that Tony would let himself be fooled that easily.

"Thor does not care for them, so forgive me that I don't believe you would care for two half-humans."

A bitter laugh escaped Loki, his eyes suddenly cold and hard. "As had been pointed out often enough - I am  _not_ my brother. Nor do I share his ignorance to the pain his actions bring onto those he pretends to care about."

"The last time we met it was  _your brother_ who cared  _more_ about humans than you." It was true, but still Tony couldn't help the gentle, questioning tone of his voice.

The last time they met, which was also the  _first_ time they did, he also wouldn't have thought Thor capable of leaving him pregnant with his kids.

Again a sound he had never heard from Loki - a huffing noise, bitter, yes, but also resigned. "I do not care for humans per se, but I do also not  _not_ care." Turning back to Tony he asked, his voice those of a long-suffering parent. "He did not tell you, then."

It was no question.

"Tell us what?" There was a lot Thor had not told them, Tony would freely admit as much, but he had spoken almost non-stop about his brother, and how he had been released again from prison after he helped Thor defeat the Svartálfar.

"He did not tell you that I was manipulated by the scepter's owner almost as much as those humans I controlled?" A tired smile graced his lips when Tony made a disbelieving sound before he explained: "I will admit, I was angry at Thor and would have done a lot to hurt him, not to mention the All-father, but ... they are my brother and my king. And to bring war to another realms' shores ... that is not my nature. I should have known that something was wrong, but only when Odin placed me behind walls of magic to counter  _his_ will was I able to work on freeing myself."

Well, that could be true. It could also be a lie, spun to gain Tony's trust and then kill him painfully.

Tony found that he did not care.

"Why are you here?", he asked again, hoping beyond hope that maybe, maybe ... "When you came to meet them ... you came to late."

He did not want to think it, even less say it, but he knew it - there was no way to rescue his little ones. No human way, at least.

Loki's answer, when it came, was hesitant. "I ... I came to see them before, even though I never let them see me. Or you. I just came to make sure they are safe." A pause before he continued: "I have always cared for my brother's children. When I heard that he impregnated you ... I never had a reason to intervene - had my brother wanted for his offspring to reach maturity, he could not have chosen better -"

"Well, he certainly didn't want to!", Tony cut him off. "He run away as fast as possible. And you have still not explained why you are here!" For once Tony was not afraid of dying - between his anger and his fear for the kids was not enough room in him for fear for himself.

But Loki seemed disinclined to take exception about his behavior. Instead he inclined his head, his face a mask of fleeting regret. "You are right. And it was most cruel of me to do so. To make it short - I have come to assist you, Tony Stark. You, and even more the children you call your own."

Tony had thought his heart dead already, numb under all this pain, but the almost painful leap it did with this renewed hope taught him better.

"You - you can help them?  _Heal_ them?!" The words were out of his mouth before he could hold them back. Before he could think that he had just revealed his greatest weakness.

Not that it was difficult to know it, seeing as he was sitting here in this unsuitable blue quarantine-suit.

Speaking of which - Loki was wearing nothing but his normal clothes. So either he was not in danger of catching this illness, or he spoke true that he could heal it.

Again a painful beat of his heart.

"I can", Loki stated simply. "And I will." Licking his lips he turned back to the kids lying in their beds, and when he reached out to gently touch Lucas' hand Tony didn't even try to stop him. "There is only one thing for you to decide, Tony Stark, as their bearer and the one responsible for them."

A price. There  _always_ was a price.

In this moment Tony couldn't care less. Should Loki ask for his assistance in conquering the world, he could have it for his kids' life. He would give the world to him on a silver platter, even, should he ask for it.

"What do you want." He was not even asking anymore - they both knew that Loki would get whatever he asked for.

The pause before Loki answered suggested that maybe there was more to it than Tony had anticipated and he looked up at the god who looked uncharacteristically hesitant - though, to be honest, Tony had seen a very different side of him today so who was he to say what was common for him and what not?

Capturing Tony's eyes with his green ones Loki said, very carefully pronouncing each syllable: "For a healing like this, rescuing not only one life but two, there is always a prize to pay. This is no doing of mine, but rather the way magic works. What remains for you to decide is who you will owe this prize to - Loki, the man you see now, or Loki, prince of Asgard whose every claim will fall upon Asgard to call on."

Maybe it should have been a more difficult choice to make, but it didn't take a genius to work out what Loki meant with his words - did Tony want to owe Loki, or did he want to owe Asgard and, in doing so, Thor.

Asshole that he was.

So really, there was not really a choice to make, but he made an effort to be responsible nevertheless. "What would  _Loki_ ask for in exchange for my children's lives?"

He had expected a victorious smirk to graze the god's lips, maybe even gloating or a laugh; he got nothing of this. Instead the man returned his look steadfast and said in a firm voice: "What I require is just one thing - that I will always find shelter under your roof. Protection from my enemies, care for my wounds and meals to fill me. A place to rest my head without fear that I may not awake anymore."

That ... didn't sound so bad at all. Still ... "Shelter under my roof, as long as you don't try to kill me or mine", Tony cautioned.

Loki inclined his head. "Of course", he said as if that had been implicated. And maybe it had been. "Do we have a deal?"

He should have thought about it again. Really. Should have called the others to speak about it. Should have ... But he was not  _Tony Stark_ , genius and superhero, right then. He was Tony Stark,  _father_ of two children who had suffered too long, and who had to watch them suffer for too long, and he could not bear it for even just one minute longer. Not when there was a chance to stop their suffering.

So he just struck his hand out, offering it to the god. "We have a deal."

The god nodded, taking the hand in a firm grip. "We have."

Then he took a step back and nodded to the stool that Tony had abandoned when Loki had first announced his attendance. "You may want to sit down again. This will take a while, and it will be much easier when I have room to move around."

Hesitantly Tony returned to the chair - despite the deal they had struck just now he was not trusting the god, and he wasn't comfortable at all leaving him to work his magic on his children.

Magic like the one that had captured Clint's mind. Like the one that Doom used to hurt civilians. Like Amora's to make men fall to her whim.

Magic that might,  _just might_ , have a chance to save Lucas and Carolina where nothing else could.

Helpless to do anything but watch Tony settled into his stool and observed while Loki carefully drew back the sheets that covered their little shapes - eight years old almost, but looking like six-years, and Lucas was even too small for a human six-year-old - and then moved their arms so that they rested next to their bodies.

Tony opened his mouth to ask what he did - he wasn't sure if he even would get an explanation, but he needed to do something,  _anything_ to chase away the feeling of doing  _nothing_ \- when, unexpectedly, Loki explained himself: "Magic  _flows_ . To make sure it works right, which is very important for healing, it is better to give it a clear way to flow along least it creates waves and whirls."

"You don't do that normally", Tony commented; he had seen Loki use magic to fight, and even more so all these other villainous magicians. "Nor do other magicians I've seen use magic."

"It is not entirely needed", Loki agreed. "However, it makes magic easier,  _neater_ one could say - not unlike the difference of drawing a line while one is standing still or walking. You can do it, but when you walk the line will be much more uneven, and you don't want uneven magic used to heal your children, I would imagine."

Well, it made sense - Tony wouldn't try to forge metal while he was moving around, nor would he do that in less than ideal circumstances if he could avoid that.

"Now be silent and leave me to healing them to the best of my abilities", Loki said now. 

Startled Tony focused again on the god and watched as Loki took a stance directly between the beds, a hand placed upon both of their chests. Taking a deep breath he closed his eyes and let his head fall forward onto his chest.

Then nothing. Until ...

"Holy mother of ...!"

Tony would never admit to it, but he couldn't even begin to explain what happened. Spirals of golden light swirled around Loki’s arms, sinking into the kids' skins, making them glow from within. Green sparks followed, dancing along Loki's skin and then jumping over his hands and Lucas and Carolina as if the three of them had been electrocuted and sparks were flying from them. Even more - their hair was standing upright like it had been charged, and Tony felt himself jumping up and losing his breath when he saw that. Only the fear what would happen should he interfere - that and the desperate hope that Loki  _really_ was trying to heal them - kept him from trying to touch them, separate them.

It went on like this for much too long for Tony's liking, though it might have been just moments in real time - he really couldn't bother anymore - before the lightshow ended and Loki slowly took his hands back from the kids.

Tony didn't wait for a moment longer - he was at their side, not caring that he pushed Loki to the side to reach them, and touched them, carefully, trying for their pulse.

Then, only after he felt their steady heartbeat under his fingers, did he recognize that their temperature had lowered, and that their breath came not as labored anymore - that Loki had done as he had promised and stabilized them, maybe even healed them outright.

Looking for their benefactor he saw him sitting on Carolina's bed ... well,  _slouched_ might be a better phrase - he looked like a puppet whose strings had been cut, fallen where Tony had pushed him.

As if he had felt Tony's eyes upon him he looked up, his gaze vague, his movement sluggish. "You ... promised", he whispered, his voice slurred from exhaustion and oncoming unconsciousness. " _Shelter_ ..."

Not even Steve would have been fast enough to get to him before he broke down, but at least Tony managed to catch him before he fell entirely unto the floor.

Looking down at the sweaty, white face - it seemed the man wasn't used to healing, or maybe magic just took more energy when it wasn't explosions and illusions - he sighed. "I promised", he agreed, lowering him back on the bed so he wouldn't crush Carolina's little form, before standing up to call upon Rhodey who had stood guard at the door.

(Though Tony wasn’t sure how he had somehow managed to completely ignore the lightshow that had been going on these past half an hour).

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yuppi, my muse is back ... and here is the next chapter. Hope you like.
> 
> As always, many thanks to [evilwitch66](http://archiveofourown.org/users/evilwitch66) for saving my story from my horrible grammar ...

It took four days for Loki to wake up.

Two days the doctors spend trying to figure out why the kids that had been dying only an hour ago were now suddenly (magically) healed, one day of moving them back to the tower, and one when they were already up and running again, even though they were still weak from the ordeal they went through and everyone was constantly running after them to tell them to take it slow and not over-exhaust themselves (of course they did - Tony had to carry them back to bed from where they had passed out on the floor next to a tower of Bucky's romance novels before lunch).

They had transferred Loki to the tower right after Tony had admitted to the deal he had struck with the god and gotten Rhodey to call Happy and then Happy to help him carry the alien down into the car. Since then he had been lying in the bed of a guest room on Tony's floor - the whole tower was technically 'under Tony's roof', but he wanted to make sure that Loki knew 'me and mine' included the rest of the Avengers and his employers in the lower floors as well before he let him loose. 

And yes, he had to put his veto on some very creative suggestions made by Clint about how to restrain him. Though the one about hemp rope and handcuffs sounded kinky enough that he might have to take a closer look into what exactly happened behind his doors whenever he brought some fangirl over...

It was all superfluous anyway - Loki lay in the sheets pale as a corpse and didn't seem capable of doing anything; it had been two days before he even moved from his spot (Bruce was very interested in how he managed to avoid decubitus from lying in the same spot for so long) and he had yet to wake up.

Which he did, of course, at the worst possible time. Though Tony had to admit - at least neither Clint nor Bruce were around, which could have ended very bad indeed.

He was sitting on the living room couch, Carolina sprawled out beside him showing him her designs for a robo-pet she wanted to build - it was excellent and lacked, not surprisingly, some of the mistakes Tony himself had made with Dum-E - while Lucas was lying on his belly in front of the TV, trying to beat Susan at a car race through an imaginary city (it was one of the few typical boy-things Lucas did - normally he liked role-plays better, not to mention that he would rather spend time ordering Tony and Carolina around whenever they managed to confuse Pepper's carefully planned days). Tony wished him luck in his endeavor - like her mother Susan had a scary tendency to be absolutely perfect in everything she learned, and Lucas had not quite mastered that trick yet (though they might one day be a very scary couple, should it come to that, and really – alone the thought of being related to Maria Hill, however distantly, was scary as hell).

The only other person with them was Natasha, who was trying her luck with knitting a thick pullover for the girl Pepper was expecting, though judging by the size of the back-part that Tony could see it would much rather fit Phillippe (whether he would acquiesce to wearing red for the scariest of his aunts was another story). Well, if worse came to worst they could always just wash it hot.

Lucas was just crying out because he had managed to leave Susan's car behind him and was driving in the leading position when Tasha suddenly startled and then jumped up, facing the door behind Tony with her needles poised for attack.

A part of Tony's mind wondered idly whether that was the real reason for her expressing interest in knitting – practicing for when she was an old lady and couldn't kill people anymore by twisting their neck between her thighs - but most of him screamed loud: "Loki!"

Still, he had a reputation to lose, not to mention that he didn't want to scare the kids, so he stayed calm while a voice, blank of emotion, commented from right behind him (and how had the fucker managed to come so close without Tony hearing him?! Or Jarvis warning them!): "What a lovely domestic scene."

Carolina squawked and almost fell from the armrest she had been balancing on, but even before Tony could steady her there was a pale hand on her shoulder, holding her up, while another caught the tablet she had been using.

Slowly Tony took his hand back, while over the sound of Lucas' car crashing into the wall (he had probably been as distracted by this as the rest of them, too) Carolina complained: "Hey, dumb-ass, you've been scaring me!"

Well, they might be brighter than most adult scientists, but like Tony his kids lacked a certain talent for reading the atmosphere of a room. Or manners, as Pepper sometimes complained.

Loki, however, did not. "I apologize for scaring you. How may I set things right between us, young Lady?"

As if he hadn't rescued her life four days prior.

But then Tony hadn't told them that they had a visitor (well, things like that were normally handled by other people. People who were sensitive about that. Unfortunately, no such person had come around to tell them because they had suffered so much in the last weeks, and shouldn't be shocked any more than necessary until they were fully recovered.

Showed what life thought of such plans.)

Caroline had in the meantime turned to critically observe the intruder, obviously certain he was mocking her by calling her young Lady.

Taking a deep breath Tony followed suit.

Loki still looked like a ghost – long barely untangled black hair framing white skin, dark circles under eyes like glowing coals, cheeks shrunken as if he hadn't eaten for days. Not for the first time Tony thought that he looked like that first time they had seen him, while coming through the portal, and he couldn't help remember again what Thor had told them about Loki having been tortured and then forced to invade earth.

Though there were definitely differences between now and that first time. He wasn't wearing armor, for example. Well, he also hadn't when he turned up in the hospital, and later Tony had stripped him to put him into bed (he had only intended to strip him of his tunic and trousers, but it seemed Asgardians didn't believe in underwear. Oh, goodie), but he had thought the god would ignore the clothes he had put onto the chair in his room and call his heavy armor again.

He hadn't, which meant that Tony could congratulate Jarvis for correctly estimating his size, because the dark blue jeans fitted Loki like  a second skin , and the polo-shirt displayed his muscles in a way that should be illegal.

"Make Daddy take me and Lucas to the beach!", Carolina demanded now, and Tony couldn't help but groan; the kids had been pestering him about this since they woke up, but he feared that ... "He says the sun is too strong there for us now, but I want to go swimming!"

"Hey, I want to go, too!", Susan threw in, but it was Loki that Tony observed.

Tilting his head to the side he looked at Carolina, carefully watching her, before turning his assessing look to Lucas, surveying him in the same way. Slowly he nodded. "It is warm there, on the beach? Warmer than here?"

Tony groaned. "Well, no, not really", he corrected. "It's about the same temperature, but only 'cause they are also at the ocean. The sun is much stronger." At least it felt like that to him.

Loki nodded. "This does sounds familiar", he said, a small smile slipping into his words. "Like a summer day on Asgard." Turning to Tony, catching and holding his eyes easily, he continued meaningful: "And I have yet to meet an Ás who does not profit from lying in the warm sun."

That was something Tony hadn't thought about yet. Yes, Thor had always said that he liked Mexico more, and they all had found the kids unable to get sunburn, but ... well, not even Tony Stark, genius and mother-hen, had connected the dots. And the kids had never outright complained about the colder climate of New York, but then they were but half-blood-aesir.

And suddenly Tony became aware of what he was thinking. Why he was thinking that - he had been wishing for an Ás to come down and explain things to him for years, but after all this time of not receiving any sign that Asgard was still there in the sky he had given up on his wish so that now, when he had what he had wished for, he simply overlooked it.

Stretching out a finger trembling from excitement he pointed at Loki. "You, me, lab, now!", he said, jumping up from the couch and almost managing to dislocate Carolina again.

"Hey!", she complained, but he barely let himself soothe her by mumbling "sorry" and carding his fingers through her long blond hair (which she commented with another "Hey!" and a fast movement to set her hair straight again) before he grabbed Loki's arm and towed him after himself into the elevator.

"Did I say something wrong?", Loki asked, confused, while Tony tapped a rhythm into the floor as if it would make it go down faster. "I really only -"

"No-no, you did everything right", Tony cut him off before the Ping of the doors let him tow Loki into his lab where he shoved him right into one of the chairs scattered throughout the room. "Jarvis, call up the list."

Immediately a holographic list was displayed into the room, right beside them.

It was the list of questions Tony had come up with over the years, everything from the red spot they still had on their back over their diet to such rather uninteresting things as Was it normal for Carolina to be able to shoot golden sparks out of her fingertips when she was angry?

Looking expectantly to Loki he realized he still had to explain what he wanted from the man. And when he was asking questions anyway ... "Why are you here? And don't tell me it's because of Carolina and Lucas - you didn't give a shit about them the whole time before!"

Loki stared at him for some more, before he changed his position until he rested more relaxed in his chair, his left arm propped on the workbench next to him. "Sit down, Anthony Stark", he invited - no, commanded -, as if he was the owner of this tower. "If you wish to ask all your questions this might take some time."

Grumbling, and only because he hoped that this way it would go faster, Tony acquiesced by letting himself fall onto the workbench Loki was resting on. "Okay, now spill, Rudolph."

Blinking - probably not familiar with the term though maybe also because Tony sat so near to him; come to think of it, why exactly was he trusting Loki's word that he wouldn't hurt him? Wouldn't it have been better to stay upstairs with Tasha? - Loki hesitated a moment longer before he explained: "It is not that I wasn't interested in their plight before - it is just that there was never a need on your side for my help." Taking a breath he looked up at Tony. "Normally, when my brother fathers children their bearer and I do not have the history that lies between us, and it is much easier to coach them in how to raise a half-aesir child."

"So he does it often", Tony stated what in his opinion was the most important part of this tale - stop, no, there was something else: "Your brother?" Despite the years gone by he easily recalled how Loki had thrown this words back into Thor's face when he had called Loki those.

Loki smiled bitterly. "Yes, my brother. Though I will admit, there has been more than one time when I wanted to strangle the oaf, and not only for not giving a shit about his offspring." Taking a calming breath he continued under Tony's really not unbelieving stare. "Thor may have told you that I am not the most loved in Asgard, nor in the rest of the nine realms, yet even on Midgard there are stories of my children - children of monsters, yes, but children nevertheless."

Tony had a dark inkling where this was heading. "Thor's kids?"

A laugh that was all sharp glass. "Thor's kids", he agreed. "Children he discarded, often before he even knew about them. He may have changed during his stay on Midgard - and believe me, he has, and to the better - but it is not in his nature to care for the consequences of his doings. Should he meet your children now, or even later when they are scholars or warriors in their own right, he may come to care about them, maybe even as his get, but to care for children is not part of his nature."

"Is it in yours?", Tony challenged.

The smile that grazed Loki's lips now before he turned away to hide it was genuine. "Children of all races are mischief, chaos, life incarnate - and I am their God. Of course I do care for them."

A strange silence came between them - strange not because it was awkward, but because it was not.

"So you really came because you cared about them", Tony broke it eventually.

"Yes", Loki agreed solemnly, before a smile slipped onto his face. "Well, partly", he admitted. "I also came because it is always good to have somewhere where I don't have to watch my back." His smile turned amazed, as if he still couldn't believe what he said: "I have to admit, I have half-expected to wake up in chains, or at least behind tightly closed doors, not on your personal floor."

"Yeah, well, we have a deal. And I don't really think that shelter included a personal prison." Not that there hadn't been suggestions of that – between Clint's particular colorful fantasies, and Pepper's fear for the children's safety (well, and Tony's, too, probably) he had had enough to choose from. Well, Natasha had solved that by pointing out that Loki was back in Asgard's good graces, and they really didn't want anyone from down there to meddle with the kids because they tried to free their prince. 

But he didn't have to tell Loki that, did he? Letting a smile curve his lips he said: "Though, if you liked the fish tank, I can install another for you ..."

A loud laugh cut him off, and he looked surprised at the man opposite him who suddenly looked a lot less gloomy and much more happy than before.

"That won't be necessary', he said, once he had calmed down. "Though I appreciate your concern."

And, well Loki with a genuine smile on his face, looking all relaxed and familiar in sexy earthly clothes? It was really good that Tony had forsworn all sexual relationships.

  
  


  
  


 


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki's awake, so they can bundle the kids up to go on holiday, yes?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait ... got tangled up in writing "Protector" ... and now I can't write that anymore because we've got way too high temperatures here ....
> 
> As always, many thanks to [evilwitch66](http://archiveofourown.org/users/evilwitch66) for betaing!

Loki stayed for a couple of days - long enough that they could get the kids ready, gather everyone else that wanted to come down to Malibu with them. Which was basically everyone since it was summer holiday now. Susan would come as well as the other kids (both Phillippe and Helena would have given them hell had they been left behind), Jessica and Theodore and their offspring and better halves (because when Tony Stark throws a party it's a big party, even more so when the party is about his kids surviving this shit).

And, well, all the Avengers, too, of course (he was just happy that neither Lucas nor Carolina demanded that all their friends from pre-school should come, too, because then he would have had to have his PA charter a plane instead of just taking the Jet down there. And he couldn't stand to go by a normal plane; with his jet he at least knew it was as safe as he could possibly make it. So yeah, he was an overprotective parent, what else is new?).

In the end Tony was a bit surprised at how much people came, anyway. Because, really? As much as he loved Malibu (it's his favorite home, after all) and the warmth, he hated  _Malibu in summer_ . Not really because of the climate - it's lovely, sunny and warm and there's always a fresh breeze from the ocean - but because he wasn't the  _only one_ to love that. And too many of the people down there were people he wouldn't mind never having to meet again at all, not to mention in his holidays.

Not that his kids knew about that - despite them being in the spotlight since before they were even born Tony and Pepper had managed to keep them away from the worst of such a life (he hoped. He still didn't know what happened in pre-school and Pepper had forbidden him to secretly put cameras up so Jarvis could watch over them).

Anyway, they were all going to Malibu, and it was more than a bit uncomfortable - not because the jet lacked chairs (though that, too, but Tony had solved that problem by flapping down on a cushion himself and inviting everyone else to do the same. Result: there were  _empty_ couches now) but because there was a man sitting in their midst that even the not-Avengers under them recognized as the alien who tried to conquer earth almost a decade earlier.

Of course, he hadn't been in full control of himself then, but mistrust was not so easily erased.

But, well in the end even Clint had managed to live with it. He had been the most difficult one to win over, but once he agreed to step in the same plane as Loki the rest of them were easy-peasy.

Still, it should have been awkward. Maybe Loki on one side, then Tony and the Avengers, and the civilians and kids on the other side with Clint banned into the pilot cabin. All of them sitting there, trying hard and failing to come up with a topic they might speak about and silence falling between them more often than not. Uneasy looks between them and the kids falling silent under the heavy dis-quietening atmosphere as well, asking “Are we there yet?” in increasingly jarring volumes. Maybe halfway to Malibu Tony would open up the alcohol and maybe it would get a bit easier then – only that all the people who were the most uncomfortable with Loki wouldn't drink in his presence.

Yeah, well, shows how much Tony knows about Loki. Or his fellow Avengers and friends, when we are at that. Because all that awkwardness? Didn't happen. Not with Bruce and Steve determined to give Loki a second chance. And Sam and Bucky mostly curious about him. And Natasha .. being Natasha, and yes, that meant she was talking knitting with Loki (or maybe weaving. Fabrics? Tony wasn't sure. But it had to do with making clothes. He thought).

And then there was Jessica, who approached him with a question about his hair, and Theodore who asked how the fuck he managed to get the kids to quiet down and … yeah, not awkward at all.

And that wasn't even counting the reactions of the kids. After deciding they didn't care at all for why the adults were acting so strange to their guest – which took all of maybe five minutes after boarding the plane - Carolina went over to him, smiling when he called her young lady again - and promptly had the envy of the rest of the girls (and the boys, too, if he interpreted the glare Lucas and Phillippe threw at Loki right).

Actually, there was maybe one kid that wasn't immediately interested, but then Valentine didn't really count as a kid anymore with her seventeen years, did she? And, well, as much as he knew he shouldn't do favorites (and he didn't, not with his twins at least!) he couldn't deny that she was his favorite out of Theodore's daughters. Which might have to do with the fact that she stopped bringing that hideous Apple-thing into his house after he gifted her with a Stark-tablet (which worked better anyway) and then proceeded to pester him about mechanics and Pepper about leading a company until he suspected Lucas might have a worthy competitorfor the spot as CEO once he stepped down. She was also not opting to stay in New York with her new boyfriend when she could go to Malibu Beach – he might have to invite Rachel's boyfriend to their New Year’s Eve party just to make sure he ever got to see the girl again. 

She was also incredible smart and sassy and ten years earlier he would have counted down the days until she was legal to bang into the mattress. Now he just opted to be the slightly creepy uncle who told her she should keep away from guys like him, because they just wanted sex and might end up getting her knocked up or catching some disease or another.

But back to the flight.

Loki was playing games with the kids, called the girls ladies and told them stories about his long life at the side of 'an asshole that nevertheless is still my brother'. He kept the more gory details light and the bad things out so no-one who had ever told his kids about Hansel and Gretel could complain (not that they didn't want to), and by the time they exited the plane he had the kids eating out of his palm.

Well, to be honest - Tony had been just as rapt as the kids; hearing about Thor's misfortunes cheered him up to no end, and that was beside the fact that Loki proved to be a fantastic storyteller. Really, Tony would have thought Loki used magic to make him almost-expect dwarfs to spring up from under the seats, or the pillows they sat on to magically transform into a huge blossom, if not for the fact that he had magic-proofed the entire damn jet.

Fighting against Doom (and some other, though normally not as persistent magicians ... though that Amora-chick had been around a lot, too, until she had realized that Thor wasn't here anymore to play with her) had to be good for something, even if it was just figuring out how to prevent physical laws from getting upturned around him.

When they exited the plane Tony volunteered to drive the car with Loki, having a dozen children immediately turn pleading eyes to him to be allowed to join him.

It continued this way for the rest of their five day stay at his Malibu house (and he was both glad and a bit embarrassed that he had built the house with enough bed- and guestrooms to accommodate every single one of his many guests and still have room to spare which the kids fought over): the kids were following Loki around like lost puppies happy to having been found again, while most of the adults warmed to him, too. Only Clint stayed wary - though with the number of times Tony caught him half-smiling about a joke or tale of Loki he suspected that he was overcoming his hate, too.

In the end, the one that seemed the most bewildered and uncomfortable with this development was actually  _Loki_ .

At first, still on the plane, he had just accepted the kids liking him. Even seemed to thrive on it, if the way he had smiled about the kids' enthusiasm was anything to go by. The first sign that something was wrong had been his - admittedly well hidden - surprise over the vigor the kids fought for the places in the same car as him.

When they continued to follow him around, without even wanting stories but sometimes just to be the one allowed to curl next to him on the couch while they watched a movie or the one he played with - when the adults not only allowed this but  _also_ were nice to him, Natasha asking for suggestions about throwing knives, Steve inviting him to prepare breakfast, Sharon asking if he knew ways of how to ease her heartburn problems ... he almost seemed .. intimidated? Mistrusting?

What did he expect the kids to do - poison his meals? Did he expect Natasha to stick her knife into him without provocation?

Did he expect Tony to go back on his words that he was  _safe_ as his guest?

At first it angered Tony - how could Loki assume he would do  _that_ ?

Then ... he remembered the myths. And, well, probably most of them were pure bullshit, but some were bound to be true, or have at least a true core, and when there was one thing that Tony remembered of them then it was that Loki had been the butt of each and every joke.

And he remembered what Jane had told him about Loki, and how Thor spoke about him, and the picture that created ...

He knew how it was to never fit in, but at least he had had his money to buy him friendship (well, that caused its own problems, but that's another story) and never had wanted for friendly, though false, company. To be as old as Loki - several hundred, even thousand years if what Thor had told them was right - and to want for such company - to have no-one to have his back ... it was easy to see how Loki would get this paranoid.

Having been in such a similar position it just made Tony determined to prove to Loki that he was worth the trust the god had already once - albeit only out of necessity - placed in him.

Well, it would also make it easier for Tony to sleep should Loki trust him more and seek shelter in his house more often - how the fuck did Loki manage to get the kids to sleep so fast?! And why did they eat their vegetables when he was the one loading them on their plate? Why did they calm down and waited for their turn at the PlayStation when it was Loki telling them so?

And speak of the devil ...

"What are you thinking about so heavily?", the voice of their very own guest-god came from beside him and Tony almost jumped over the balustrade.

"Fuck!", he cursed. "Giving me a heart attack does  _not_ fall under  _not hurting or harming me_ !"

A low chuckle while the god came to rest beside him, his hands falling on the railing next to Tony. "I was not aware your heart is that fragile.", he commented amused.

Tony thought of the shards that had been stuck in his chest for years, held by the arc-reactor. Thought of the changes, the replacements that had to be made when they were removed.

Thought about trust and that one moment when he had been in his tower-living room, and a certain god had had him at spear-point.

"Well, it is", he simply said in the end.

Maybe it was the tone of his voice, or something else, but he felt Loki looking at him questioningly.

He didn't turn. The trickster could make of this what he wanted, but he did not feel like divulging even more truths.

And the god -  _God of fucking Lies_ \- did not ask. Instead he said: "You have done a good job, raising the offspring of an Aesir in a world so unlike their own. Not many could have done it this well."

Tony remembered hearing Loki say that before - once, in the hospital at the children's sickbed. Remembered hearing Loki confess that he cared for Thor's children as not even their own father did, that he had watched them hidden under invisibility.

It was probably this which made his next words come more softly than he had intended. "We could have needed help here, you know. But I guess you had too much to do to come down and help. I mean, they're just your crown prince's children."

Loki was silent for a long, long moment before he answered the bitter accusation. "They are not." Seeing Tony's protest he hastily explained: "Yes, they  _are_ , I  _know_ that. Everyone who saw them even once would know it. Just ... on Asgard, one cannot claim to be a citizen before one has reached the age to accept their first weapon. For an Aesir this is the age of five hundred, and while exceptions are made for children of mixed heritage ... officially they are  _not_ Thor's children, because they are not citizens in the way a grown adult is. A child may inherit a title by their parents, but not before they have reached the age of ... there is no equivalent in your language. The literally translation would be "young-warrior-age", but ... well, no Aesir would let their child fight in that age, really."

"So you're telling me you couldn't do anything because they're not old enough?!" That was ... that was the shittiest shit Tony had ever heard.

"What? No! No, I ..." Loki paused, looked at him for a long moment before breathing out and saying, calmer and a bit hesitant: "The problem is a simple one - I was not sure how much Thor had told you about me, and also - had I helped you too often Heimdallr would have found me out. And, well, I thought it better to leave it to you to find solutions where you can and be able to come to your help when you need it than to help you always and be detained by Odin's orders when you cannot find a way to help them."

That ... actually made sense. And concerning his passionate Carolina and his analytical Lucas being Thor's children - well, it wasn't as if he  _wanted_ him to acknowledge them. That was just what he needed – Thor learning of them and then deciding to claim them!

"Okay", he accepted Loki's explanation and found the magician looking fairly shocked. Well, God of Lies and all, there weren't probably that many people believing in him.

"Do you ... Would it be your wish to go to Asgard when their time is right so their father can gift them their first weapon?", Loki asked now, and Tony felt his lips form a sneer before he ever even thought about it.

"Thor? Giving them ...? Look, if I understand this right it's some sort of father-kids ceremony. And your asshole of a brother may be a lot, but he's not their father.  _You've_ been acting more like their father, what with watching over them and caring for them."

Loki smiled, a secret little thing he tried to hide. But it wasn't this that made Tony come to attention - it was the slightly evil spark in his eyes, the way he seemed just that tiny bit more devious. "Do you not want revenge on Thor? Revenge in a way that my dear brother cannot fight, nor will it harm you or yours?"

Tony stilled. This sounded ... well, it sounded like what he had dreamed about often enough, whenever he had spent another day fighting whatever illness had tried to claim a child's life. "I'm listening", he encouraged Loki.

Who proceeded in a way he hadn't expected. "It did occur to me that both Carolina and Lucas must have been asking after their father." Obviously seeing Tony's clenched teeth he lifted a hand in a placating gesture. "Listen, Stark. Let me explain."

Only grudgingly Tony nodded for him to continue. This should better be worth it.

"You are a very caring father. I cannot believe that you would have told them the real reason about their ... semen donor's absence, but neither can I see you hiding his true identity from them. So it may be good for them to meet him, to see him when he is not able to turn from them nor deny his paternity."

Slowly realizing where this was going Tony returned the grin. "In front of Asgard. When they come to claim their first weapon from him."

"Yes." Loki's smile was now outright evil. "I love my brother, but he has been allowed to run from the consequences of his actions for far too long. Were he to be confronted with his children in front of the Aesir court he would have to better give a nice display to keep his good standing in Asgard - and despite whatever else he is, he is not nearly as dumb as he plays to be, nor is he cruel to children for this purpose alone. Were someone to ... let's say, point out the advantages to him if he behaved himself like a good if distant father when his children showed up ..."

"He would play his role?"

"He would. And everyone would know that the first child Thor has acknowledged would be half-Midgardian, a race most of them still see as inferior. Not only that - once he has children that are proven to be his, Odin would have more room to pressure him into marriage to have a heir born in  _wedlock_ . Stark, as soon as your children are acknowledged by Thor they are  _heirs for the throne of Asgard_ even before I myself. What better revenge could you have, and what better way do you know for your children to meet Thor?"

Tony was a bit speechless. Loki was right - what better revenge indeed?

"You know, I'm getting a feeling you are no good person to anger", he said, his voice showing clearly his admiration.

"I'm not", Loki replied, voice smug and proud.

It was the most they spoke in those days, and the only time they spoke about the kids meeting Thor for many years to come.

  
  


  
  


 


	6. Return

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More Tony-and-Loki time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this took so long, and that I haven't answered all your lovely comments. I was really busy working on my FIB entry (which spawned much more words than I ever thought). Once that giant is out in the world I'll hopefully return to faster updates.
> 
> Also, because some of you asked: Yes, Loki's plan is risky. That's ... actually kind of a plot point and will be adressed in the next chappy.
> 
> Betaed by the wonderful evilwitch66. Many many thanks.

Loki vanished before they returned to New York, but that didn't stop Tony from preparing a room for him, the same way he had prepared a floor for all his … for the Avengers.

After all he'd promised to offer him shelter and protection, yes? And, sure, he could just let the god crash on his couch (which would be awkward) or in the same guestroom as before (slightly less awkward) but … maybe Loki had just pushed his luck when he'd passed out on Tony when he saved his kids. Maybe he hadn't really done it for them. Yet whatever his reasons – he had won Tony's trust, and gratitude, and it simply didn't feel right to offer him less than he'd had the strangers the Avengers were when they first moved in.

Still, the god was his responsibility so instead of giving him one of the floor-covering apartments he chose one of the guestrooms on his floor, the one nearest to his own. It was the same one that Daniel had occupied until the children became healthier and Tony could finally assign him a whole apartment for himself, the only one Tony had never had a hand in furnishing.

(Though he had paid for it – he  _was_ a billionaire, and fleshing out an apartment was a small price to pay to keep a nurse like Daniel. He never even asked, only gave him a credit card and told him to go crazy. Of course Daniel had protested at first until Tony told him he would paint the whole suite pink if he didn't take advantage of his offer. From the looks he had gotten now and then through the door it seemed Daniel had taken him by his word; who would have thought that the man was into tropical plants?)

Normally Tony would have left the furnishing of the room to Loki himself; after all he was no interior designer and Pepper, who had helped him with the Avengers' apartments, didn't know either how to plan a room for the man that had once tried to conquer earth and was now his kids' savior and their … ally.

Yet Loki was gone and would, judging by his words, never stay for longer with them anyway – at least not long enough to oversee his room getting furnished – so in the end Tony was on his own here, and had to hope that Loki would like what he did with the space.

Which wouldn't have been  _that_ much of a problem, really, if not for Tony being Tony Stark and wanting to make this room absolutely perfect and  _special_ . He actually spent several  _weeks_ agonizing over what to do with the place – even went as far as to ask Pepper and Steve, the ones with the best eye for something like this, for ideas - before he finally decided on a design.

One side of the room was only window, merely a table and chairs placed in front of it - nothing that would interrupt the breathtaking look over the city, something that Loki with his king-over-all attitude would hopefully like. In the middle of the room were a small angled couch and a low table, offering a view at both the window as well as the sideboard running along the wall. A TV - Loki had shown himself to be very tech-versed, quite opposed to his brother -, some DVDs and books on a shelf at the last wall completed the room. 

There was a small freezer compartment, a microwave and cutlery in the sideboard; Loki might not be here most of the time, and could come eat both in Tony's private kitchen as well as in the one on the common floor Tony made it a point to always keep the fridge stocked - he remembered Thor, and how the asshole had sometimes needed midnight snacks; it would be only logical to assume that Loki might have similar cravings.

The wall on the right side had been half torn down to add a second room with a large bed shoved up against the wall and a small wardrobe, boasting a handful of outfits though Tony wasn't sure whether the god would even wear them. A wall screen showing a waterfall in a jungle setting hid the door from cursory looks.

Everything was kept in almost golden light-colored wood, several green tones and earthen nuances for the carpets. The bathroom was likewise colored - beige and green and gold - giving the impression of a warm, open nest that Tony hoped Loki would approve of.

He wasn't thinking too much about why he put so much effort into the room; after all, Loki had saved his little sunshines.

Still, when the days turned into weeks, and the weeks into months, Tony started to think that Loki wouldn't use his room, his shelter, ever. He still kept everything well stocked, and the bed linens still got changed under the throw blanket, but he wasn't looking quite as often at the door anymore.

Of course,  _that_ was when the god finally deigned to show up again.

It was a Thursday and he was for once alone on his floor; the kids were in school, the other Avengers doing whatever they did in their free time - well, Steve, Sam and Clint were on a mission, and he knew for sure that Natasha was out drinking coffee with Pepper and Maria.

Tony himself had just finished a project for SI - some new upgrade for the next smart phone, a display that was almost unbreakable (at least it had withstood Hulk in a test, which had prompted Clint to the remark that in future the cellphones would be much more durable than their owners). Right now he was celebrating this with a glass of very good single malt, lazily thinking about which laws he would have to circumvent to release the App he had been working on on the side and that would make it possible for everyone to know about super powered attacks - or  _any_ attacks, really - happening near them as soon as the info hit police channels. Or maybe as soon as Jarvis got to know about it - having Jarvis as the provider would be certainly less illegal, but still not entirely without possible legal opposition … there were still people out there thinking Jarvis might go Skynet ...

Snorting at the thought any creation of his would ever be so sloppy as to get caught taking over the world – Tony had no doubt that Jarvis could, and  _would_ , one day rule earth, and that humanity in its whole would thank him for it - he brought his glass up to his lips to take another sip when suddenly a hand wrapped around his glass, drawing it easily out of his grip.

His heart skipped a beat, his breath caught for a moment, before he settled again. What with Jarvis not having given him any warning and whoever it was standing directly behind him he should probably be more shocked, afraid even, but he wasn't. After all he had seen this hand, this fingers before - pale, smooth skin on the upper side yet callused underneath, with an intimidating strength that betrayed itself in the ease in which the other had taken his glass.

There was only one person that Tony knew with these hands, and it just so happened that this person was also someone who might be able to access this floor without alerting Jarvis.

Still ... "What have you done to Jarvis?", he asked, peeved that someone had played around with his friend and creation.

"Only requested he might stay silent", a voice answered behind him. It was the same timbre, deep and warm, but where it was usually smooth and silky it now sounded much like the person it belonged to had gargled with gravel. "Can I have another glass of water, please?"

Another ...  _water_ ? "That's the world's best Single Malt Whiskey!", Tony protested, turning around in a huff to give this ignoram us a piece of his mind about the  _water_ .

He didn't manage more than opening his mouth, stopping short when he saw the state the other was in.

Loki was wearing his armor, but there were long tears in the leather as if a very large animal had ripped into him. Some of those tears had blood trickling out of them, and there was an overall abundance of dirt and wetness clinging to the shaking figure standing before him. It went up as far as his hair, which was plastered to his head with bloody mud, and his face was littered with scratches and cuts and  _more mud_ except around his eyes and mouth, making them stand out in shocking paleness. He stood hunched over, not at all as straight as Tony had come to think of as normal for the god, and with the forced stillness of his body, the tension all over his frame, he looked the very picture of exhaustion.

A hand rose slightly, indicating the glass he still held, and Tony distantly registered the strangeness of only the hand staying free of all that grime.

"Please forgive me", Loki said now, and a spark of amusement appeared in his eyes, turned one corner of his mouth up. "I have not found much difference between Midgardian alcohol and water."

Tony ... should probably be angered by that statement. But he couldn't find it in himself to be anything other than shocked about the man's appearance.

"What the fuck happened to you?!", he managed to ask, taking a step forward to the other and then hesitated, unsure about what to do about his state. "Do you - do you need a doctor? I can call Bruce. Well, he's always telling us he's not a real doctor, so maybe Daniel would be better-"

But Loki only shook his head - slowly, and wincing when the motion pulled at some injury or another. "I will be fine in a few hours - this is nothing compared to some wounds I have suffered throughout my life. Had I not drained my magic so much I wouldn't even have to make use of your hospitality." A hesitance, betrayed by the abruptly stilled movement of his body, before he continued: "I fear I do have to call on that debt you owe me."

Tony stared at him, stunned by the implied admission that Loki would have much rather  _not_ appeared here, even when he was covered in lacerations and exhausted and, well, all but dead on his feet. It even made him ignore the still unanswered insult upon his most-loved whiskey.

"You are  _always_ welcome here", he said and made a point of putting extra emphasis on the  _always_ .

Going by Loki's surprised blinking this wasn't something he was used to hear.

But Tony wasn't ready to put his foot in  _that_ . Not when there was a god bleeding all over his carpet that needed whatever little help he could offer  _pronto_ .

"Come", he said and grabbed the glass out of Loki's unresisting hand. "I don't care if you're healing like a god - you're bleeding  _now_ , and we need to get you out of that armor, too. Don't think it's good when the wounds are healing 'round all that leather." While he spoke he manhandled Loki down the floor to his room, which the god let him do with a slight frown upon his forehead.

The implication behind that - that Loki hadn't had someone care for him for long enough that he was  _surprised_ by his actions - was something Tony really didn't want to think about. Least of all because he knew how that felt - being taunted by the bigger kids in class, getting chased and falling down, and not having anyone at home who gave even the least shit about him.

Swallowing he pushed the memories down where they belonged before he opened the door to Loki's room, pushing him in and then into the bathroom.

"Strip", he ordered, a hand already on the armor pulling at various straps despite not having the least clue how he was supposed to get all the leather off the other's body.

A hand came up, slowly, and captured his own. "I'll only get blood all over your place", Loki said, his voice soft and hesitant.

Tony just rolled his eyes. "Which is why we're in the bathroom. Not that I care that much - as far as I'm concerned you could stain the carpet as much as you want. I just don't want to have to argue with Pepper about why she has to order a new carpet.  _Again_ ." Smiling encouragingly when the hands released him after a pause and then proceeded to unlock cleverly hidden straps he continued: "Don't tell her, but there are still some stains in the common floor she hasn't found because someone - our feathered friend, if you know who I mean - has had the sense to place some tables and vases on them."

The god snorted weakly, then pulled at the last strap and suddenly all the leather fell down around him, pooling like a dark mound around his feet. Under it he wore a thin green tunic, ripped and bloodied enough that Tony could see some of the wounds. No longer gaping, but judging by the amount of blood that had seeped into the fabric there had been a lot of bleeding going on.

"Fuck!", Tony made, causing an self-deprecating smile to appear on the god's face. But he didn't say anything, just shrugged out of the tunic rather stiffly, then stood there, obviously reluctant about what he should do next.

Tony needed a moment to wake from his stupor, but he thought that he was allowed to. There was a  _honest-to-god_ Adonis in front of him: all smooth white skin, lean muscles, barely any hair covering him. The blood had left red patterns on the paleness, pooling around the creases over rips and muscles and running down from the few still open wounds - particular the one right across his left thigh which still let Tony gaze upon more flesh than he wanted to.

And still, even covered in mud and blood Loki was everything Tony would have dreamed of in a god, from the crown of his raven's black hair over his six pack, his long yet strangely vulnerable cock right down to where his feet vanished under all the fabric.

Tearing his eyes away he found Loki looking at him, with a fragile expression that he didn't know how to interpret, even less while he was fighting down a fully inappropriate erection. Swallowing he let his eyes flicker over to the shower, gesturing for Loki to get in. "We need to get you clean, and the wounds washed out. There should be some shower gel - I wasn't sure what you like, so just try it out, yeah?"

Loki hesitated for a moment longer, then slowly went into the cabin.

Confident that the god knew how to operate it - he wasn't Thor, after all, and he had managed quite well in Malibu - Tony turned to the closet and got one of the fluffy green towels out of it before depositing it over the rack. Behind him the shower had started running, so Loki obviously  _did_ know what to do with the shower, and when he looked over he saw the man standing under the shower head, clearing the grime out of his hair. 

The glass covered nothing of the man showering, and with all the water running off that body like pearls of sweat … maybe it was good he stumbled upon the armor still lying on the floor, or he would have done something really improper, like joining Loki under the water.

Still, the armor – that was nothing he wanted to leave here for the cleaner to find.

"Do you ... can it be repaired? Your armor?", he asked Loki, carefully keeping his eyes on the man's face.

Not that this really helped, what with him being all flushed from the hot water and his eyes so green and his lips so kissable ...

_No Tony, no! Least of all with_ _**his** _ _brother!_

"Yes", Loki said, and his voice, all deep and gravely, didn't really help. "Leave it there - the magic I placed within it will consume the blood, and repair any tears. The tunic ... well, I guess that can't be helped."

Tony blinked, still stuck on ... "Your armor consumes  _blood_ ? As in, you have to  _feed_ it so it stays ... healthy?"

A laugh from the shower, the eyes of the god flashing in amusement. "Well, it's the magical construct laid within the leather that needs the magic, but yes, you could say that I need to feed my armor to keep the magic running."

Maybe someone else would be horrified by this concept. Tony, however, felt only intrigued. "How I wish that would work for my suit, too", he said, then laughed. "It certainly gets a lot of blood, though mine more than that of others."

Loki's look in return was one he might have called contemplating, but then the god blinked and turned his face away. "We can talk another time about this, if you want?"

Sighing Tony nodded. The first time someone who could explain a really  _new_ part of science to come his way, and of course he didn't want to talk about it.

But, well, he hadn't said  _no_ , had he? And maybe he would explain a bit ... though not before he was clean, and sated, and had slept.

So maybe Tony should make sure that he got that as fast as possible.

It only took him a moment to get Loki clothes – a shirt and some boxers he'd stored in the wardrobe -, and then put a pizza in the microwave. He would have ordered takeout, but with how tired Loki looked he didn't think the man would stay awake long enough for the food to arrive, and, really – you can't go wrong with pizza, can you? After all that was the reason he had put them in the freezer.

When he returned to the bathroom Loki was busy getting himself dry, the towel carefully dabbing in between the wounds. With the blood cleared away Tony could see there were only a few of them still open, with a few more red gashes marring the alabaster skin. Thin rivulets of water ran down from the wet hair, slicked to stick to his scalp and shoulders by the shower.

Upon hearing him enter, Loki looked up, a certain wariness to his face, a tension to his body that had Tony stop short and raise his hands with the clothes still held in them as if to offer them in supplication to an easily angered god.

In response, the god's expression softened, and he let his hand with the towel still in them sink. His lips tightened as if he was biting them, then he abruptly turned around and put the towel back on the rack, reminding Tony again forcefully of the fact that Aesir - Asgardians - had no problem with nakedness whatsoever.

Trying very hard not to look at where Loki was  _very_ enticing - and Tony had  _forsworn intimacy, damn it!_ He  _shouldn't_ get so excited about him, not when he had successfully turned his back on every damn sexy hottie that had crossed his way! - he asked: "I've got some pizza warming up, or do you want anything else?"

"Pizza sounds wonderful", the god replied, and Tony risked a look - yes, everything covered.

And no, he was not feeling disappointed about it in the least!

"O-okay", he said. “Well, then ….” He turned back into the room and felt how Loki followed after him.

The pizza had finished heating, something Tony was more than grateful for once he saw Loki digging into it with barely visible manners. Blinking at how he practically devoured a sixth of it with three bites Tony decided to defrost another pizza before Loki ran out of nourishment and decided to eat him.

_No, no, naughty thoughts! Not allowed!_

Finally, halfway into the third pizza, Loki slowed down. He looked mightily embarrassed by his lack of restraint, and ready to apologize for his lacking manners.

Tony really wanted to spare them both that awkward moment. "Your armor's not the only thing that needs to be fed to keep the magic running, yeah?" He watched grinning as Loki's white cheeks blushed scarlet.

"I'm sorry-", he started, but Tony just whisked it away.

"You've been hurt, and you're tired, and I know how after-battle-feasts are. You think we don't dig into everything we can get every single time after some fucking kid with superpowers and not enough love in his life starts getting ideas about world domination or some other shit and we have to clean up? Really, you've been much more restraint than I normally am. Or Natasha - wouldn't think it of her with all her manners and shit, but get between her and an after-battle-meal and you might find yourself with a knife in your rips."

"She knows where to stick her daggers", Loki agreed, and a small smile started to appear on his lips, not amused or smirking but one of his rare honest smiles that made him look younger and much more innocent.

And Tony hated to destroy that moment, but he had had time to think while Loki decimated the pizza, and he had given his word. Had sworn to protect Loki, and that meant ... "Will they be coming after you? The ones that ... shredded your armor?" He didn't think mentioning the state in which Loki himself was would be good.

The smile vanished just as he had feared anyway, but at least the god wasn't looking as hunted as before again. "They won't. The Jotnar can't really leave their planet."

Okay.  _That really_ got Tony's attention. Because, really? He remembered, darkly, that Thor had once mentioned the Jotnar as Loki's birth race ...

"You visited your family?", he blurted out, and could have slapped himself right that moment for being this insensitive. Holding up his hand as if he could take his words back this way he said: "Forget I said anything. Sorry, I just ... sometimes I really don't have a brain-to-mouth-filter. And-"

"You're right" Loki cut him off. "I went to see my family.” A small, self-mocking huff. “It turned out, they are still angry about me killing my father."

Tony stared at him, caught between curiosity and manners, before he relented and put a hand on Loki's where it rested next to the plate. "You want to talk about it?"

Loki looked down at where Tony's hand rested on his wrist, his skin a pale contrast to Tony's darker, honeyed one, before he finally sighed and shook his head. "Not really, no. Not that there is much to tell." A laugh lacking all humor that  _hurt_ to listen to, before he looked up at Tony and said, his lips curled in a little smile that spoke of cruel amusement and self-loathing: "I didn't even get to talk to them. They don't ... my brother's king now - Byleistr, his name's Byleistr.  _King_ Byleistr. He's my younger brother, and maybe ... maybe if Odin hadn't taken me, I would be king now. Wouldn't have killed my father to please my kidnapper. I just ... I don't even know ... Odin said he saved me from the cold, from death, but I don't even know if that's true. Don't know if they really kill runts like me. Maybe ... maybe I would have loved Laufey, and he would have loved me ..."

There was so much longing in his voice that Tony swallowed down the memory of his own childhood. A distant father, a boy that felt unloved ... it sounded far too familiar to be comforting.

But this wasn't about him right now, and so he only curled his hand a bit more, just enough to remind Loki that he wasn't alone, but not enough to cut off a story that sounded painful, and intimate, and as if it had been kept close to the god's heart for far too long.

Maybe it was the pressure, the reminder that he didn't have to go through this on himself again, but Loki continued slowly. "I went there - I've not been there since I tricked Laufey into coming to Asgard. It's a cold, hard place, Jotunheimr, but I've read books about them for all my life - it's been colder once, and the warmth is actually making them die. So I thought to return the casket to them ... the Casket of Ancient Winters, the source of their planet's coldness. Odin took it after the war to prevent them coming at us - the Aesir, I mean - and Midgard again. With Laufey gone I thought there was no reason to keep it anymore ... his son is known to be more reasonable, and I thought he would appreciate it." Loki laughed again, the sound hard and cold and cutting. "I should have known ...! He tried to kill me for what I did to Laufey.” His hand balled into a fist, the knuckles white under the tension. “I thought I was different from Thor, from the Aesir, that I looked at the Jotnar objectively where they only knew hate, and yet I grew up with their stories and lies, too. And I  _forgot_ , Stark! I forgot that Laufey was not only the monster I learned him to be, or the man who maybe left me to die in the cold night of a battle, but also  _Byleistr's father_ ! I forgot ... I forgot that I killed Jotunheimr's king's father." Loki shook his head, clearly still not believing his mistake.

When the silence grew and it became increasingly clear that he wouldn't continue - that he expected some kind of damnation, probably, if Tony's own experience was anything to go by - Tony shifted in his chair, upped the pressure with which he held Loki's wrist until the other man looked up at him, some confused, strangely vulnerable expression on his face, his eyes wary, yet resigned. A man who knew a blow was coming, and yet couldn't do anything to shield himself.

Well, Tony had no desire to provide that blow, or when he did, he wanted it to be a blow of some other kind. "I don't think that's so strange. As you said yourself, you've grown up hating that man - and when I think about how old you are, that's a very long time. And then you're suddenly told he's your father, and .. did I get that right? Odin the bastard told you your father abandoned you to die?"

A faint smile tightened Loki's lips at Tony's nickname for his adoptive father, yet he only nodded in response.

"Fucking fuck ... man, that's no wonder you overlooked such a detail. We're all egoists deep down in us, and sometimes we forget that the world's not rotating around us. So this is your moment - you forgot that maybe, _just maybe_ , the man you've been taught to hate all your life could be more than a monster, could be a father to his son. Well, what the  _fuck_ ? You're just human, you  _can_ make mistakes. Well, you're  _not_ human, but - you get what I mean, yeah? Everyone makes mistakes, but in the end we just suck it up and carry on. Like you did when you turned on the Jotnar in the first place - and now you're trying to make up for it. Or me - do you see me wallowing in self-pity about having been the Merchant of Death? Well, yes, sometimes I do, but most of the time I know that I have to move forward, and kick ass, and that even though I indirectly killed thousands of people I still have a fucking  _right_ to happiness - that me suddenly killing all joy in my life wouldn't bring them back. Wouldn't make the world a better place. It would be just me, but without the jokes and the spirit, and what else makes me  _me_ and somehow makes other people's life better. So when I can do that, and almost every other adult in this tower can do that, then  _you_ can do that, too. And well, this Bileser or how he's called - he didn't take it good the first time you turned up and tried to help them?  _Fuck him._ Think something up to  _make_ him listen to you. I mean, that asshole of your brother was always ' _oh my brother's a genius_ ' and ' _my brother would know what to do_ '. So, well, show the world that you are."

Loki was staring at him as if he couldn't quite believe his ears, or his brain, and Tony found himself flushing in embarrassment. "Well, that's just what I think ...", he mumbled, suddenly too self aware to keep going just like that, his eyes dropping to the table.

But Loki turned his hand - the one still in Tony's grip - and took Tony's now, moving his unresisting hand up to his lips and pressed a chaste, yet strangely intimate and meaningful kiss to its back. Tony found himself flushing even deeper, yet couldn't bring himself to pull his hand out of Loki's grip.

" _You_ are a  _genius_ ", Loki said, slightly breathless, and his eyes, when he looked up again and caught Tony's, were intense and glowing, a green force that pulled Tony to him like gravity. 

And maybe it was this that made him lean closer to Loki, and had their lips meet in something that was chaste and hot and full of promise and emotions.

  
  


  
  


 


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really sorry for not updating for so long, but between my PC breaking down, work and RL I really didn't get anything done. Here's hoping that it won't happen again ^^'
> 
> Also, to those who have pointed out that Loki's plan can easily go wrong - here's Tony thinking the same.

_It is the setting_ , Tony tried to persuade himself. It had to be the setting - everyone would look divine leaning against the balcony railing of his tower, all of New York's sparkling beauty spread out under them like an offering to some ancient god, and the sinking sun bathing pale skin in fire, painting highlights into the long dark hair; a breeze tugging on his loose shirt like a playful puppy.

Not to mention the kiss still lingering in Tony's memory. Yes, it was probably the kiss – hot and passionate and admiring; a kiss he couldn't help but respond to, couldn't help but remember, even if it was a tiny little bit awkward.

And it _was_ awkward – of course it was. After all he had been kissed by _Loki_ , wanna-be dictator of Earth, brother of asshole-Thor and mischief maker extraordinaire.

Sure, he was also hot as hell, had cheekbones to die for, legs so long Tony wanted to measure them with his tongue just to find their end. Was insanely smart and his knowledge of science surpassed even Tony's own. And he was good with children. (And since when was _that_ something that turned Tony on?)

Groaning he buried his face in his hands. Why was he such a libido-controlled idiot?

“Tony?”, asked the one voice he really didn't want to hear right now. Not to mention having the person it belonged to standing right in front of him, face showing friendly concern and not the least hint that _that kiss_ still lingered in his mind. “Are you okay?”

Lying to the God of Lies, or _not_ lying to the God of Lies? Well, not really a question. “Sure am”, he answered, forcing a smile on his face. “Just thinking about the kids and their school trip.” Which really was worrying enough (his kids without him. For three days. Somewhere outside New York), but right now the skeptical look on Loki's face was even more so. Well, Tony had always believed in attack being the best defense. “How are _you_ feeling? You look much better than yesterday.” You look absolutely awesomely delectable. “Room's okay?” Please just let it drop and tell me I’m an awesome interior designer. I need something new to add to my resume that makes Fury roll his eye.

Loki was quite obviously torn between pursuing his original question and answering Tony's, yet in the end he relented. Probably good guest manners or something. Tony really ought to ask who had ingrained them into him and send them a thank-you letter for making his life easier. “My magic has recovered enough to heal me, though I may need to take advantage of your hospitality a few more days until I am ready to leave for Asgard again.”

And that - was just plain wrong. “You can stay as long as you want.” Tony frowned. “You're my guest – fuck, you're a friend of the family! The kids love you, and … holy damn, Loki, after what you've done ...” He trailed off; he couldn't very well tell him that he would do everything for him after saving his children. Tony still had a bit of pride left after all; not to mention that it seemed beyond dumb to offer this to someone who had already tried to conquer his planet.

Yet it seemed that Loki had caught up on it. But instead of amused or patronizing – which normally seemed to be his default setting - he looked completely dumbstruck. As if he had never before been told -

Yeah, well, not going there. Really not.

To dispel the sudden awkwardness Tony forced a new grin on his face and asked: “So, you didn't tell me: Do you love your place or do you love your place?!”

Gratefulness warmed Loki's eyes, even if it was for just one moment before it vanished behind a teasing smile. “My place? You mean the one that lacked a toothbrush, so I had to bother Bruce for one?”

“Oh, fuck -!” Had he really forgotten about that?

But before he could say anything more Loki's hand was on his arm, warm and heavy and comforting. Distracting. “I am merely teasing, Tony. The rooms are perfect – much more than I expected when we struck our bargain. Much more than you would have needed to provide, and I appreciate it.” Maybe Tony looked as doubtful as he felt, for Loki took one look at him and continued: “I love the view – I have always loved large windows. I love the space, the books. The clothes. The colors.” A smile entered his voice, the corners of his mouth tugging up – maybe involuntarily, for Loki hid It at once. “I love the care all of it shows. So please, don't worry about some small detail. I really do love it.”

His simple words soothed the worry in Tony better than any elaborate assurance could have done and he smiled, suddenly giddy with relief and happiness. “I'm happy you like it.”

Again there was silence between them, yet it was far less awkward. Almost companionable. As if they weren't two almost-strangers, once enemies, but friends, with shared joys and grieves.

Maybe it was this that allowed Tony to voice his concerns.

Not the ones about his sanity or his over-active sex-drive. Really, he had more pressing problems.

“I've been thinking”, he started, carefully. “I ...” Okay, maybe speaking about it was a bit more complicated than he had thought it to be. Not sure how to go one he asked, trying to gain time: ”You want something to drink? I've got water, and lemonade – just don't tell the kids, Caro has her lemonade-phase and I had to tell her we have none or she wouldn't drink anything else anymore – oh, and coffee. Well, and tea and milk, I guess.”

Loki's bright green eyes never left his own, yet he accepted the offer easily as if he knew that Tony hadn't given up on the topic. “Tea, please. Peppermint if you have.”

“Not so sure about that.” Tony went over to the little kitchenette, Loki a silent shadow behind him until he settled down on one of the bar stools. Rummaging through the cabinet he explained: “Bruce is the only one who drinks tea regularly, so we don't really do normal tea. It's all fancy – _White Blossom of China_ , or _Pearl of the Sea_ , or just one of his own blends – hey, look what I've found! Clint's watch. Really wonder who put it here … ah, and here we have some actual peppermint leaves. Wow, never thought we had something normal like this. Must be leftovers from Daniel’s adventures into fasting cures.”

Turning to his visitor with his find held triumphantly in the air he abruptly stopped in his track, the picture Loki made freezing his brain right up.

He was leaning casually over the counter, the top buttons of his shirt undone and revealing pale skin vanishing right down into the v of the neckline, his forearms braced on the wood. While Tony breathlessly looked on he shifted a bit, his left elbow now braced on the bar, his face leaning in his hand, and it just brought Tony's attention up to the hard commanding jaw, his pale lips – practically begging for a mouth and teeth to scrape over them, making them blush and swollen and looking utterly debauched. A reddish tint appeared on the pale cheeks, likely a result of Tony's staring, yet he couldn't help but let it drag his eyes upwards, to the emerald eyes that right now seemed torn between amusement and embarrassment.

And Tony realized that he'd been staring at him - _checking him out_ \- like a possible date on a party. Embarrassment flushed hot into his cheeks, made him fumble with the tea container and almost drop it. His coordination wasn’t exactly helped by his twitching cock, or the lust still firing through his veins.

Focusing on the wooden box at least allowed him to avoid Loki's eyes, even if he still felt them burn into the top of his bowed head.

When the silence grew too long, too heavy - too awkward - he cleared his throat, desperately trying to dispel the sudden tension.

"Err, yeah. Your tea. I'm just gonna make .. I'll make hot water."

Grateful for all the routine he'd gotten warming tea for the twins he took a kettle out of the cupboard, filled it with water and put it on the stove. He really was better at this than he’d been before the kids. Nowadays the kettle was a lot less likely to explode because he’d been using it.

"Anything else?", he asked, shoving memories of hot water drenching the whole kitchen firmly back into the deepest caverns of his mind. Somewhere between exploding microwaves and toasters that had no business turning toast to coals because some asshole had overcharged the electric components. “Do you want something to eat?" Loki had been really hungry the day before, hadn't he? "I'm not exactly a wizard on the stove, but I can make some mean scrambled eggs."

Loki laughed quietly behind him, a low chuckle that shouldn't have him feel a tiny tingle all the way down to the end of his spine. "I remember. Carolina told me I'm a good cook, but that my eggs simply aren't up to her Dad's."

The words – both that Loki had remembered them and that his daughter was so valiantly defending him when Tony knew what miracle worker Loki was when it came to cooking – made warmth bloom in his chest. Smiling he put a pan down next to the kettle and opened the fridge. “I guess the usual two eggs aren’t going to be enough for you, either?” Not waiting for an answer he pulled out half a dozen, hesitated, then added another two. Really, with all the super-eaters in his household it was a miracle no reporter had ever gotten hold of his grocery lists and made up some rumor about them being in truth insatiable monsters that wouldn’t be satisfied until they had digested earth in her whole.

Or, well, maybe there was that rumor and he had just never heard of it. Fury was good at keeping the stranger rumors from him (Which was honestly sad because most of them were quite funny).

“You want them plain, or with cheese and peppers?”

“Please, plain is fine.” Loki sounded a tad embarrassed. “I have no preference, and I don’t want you to unnecessarily put so much effort in it.”

Forgetting about Loki’s shameless pose Tony looked over his shoulder to glare at his guest. Thankfully he had changed his position, leaning back now so his skin was partly hidden. And while the thin, half-open shirt clinging to his muscled chest was its own distraction at least Tony managed to keep his wits this time. Somewhat.

Enough at least to make sure that Loki knew he’d spoken bullshit again and blushed under his glare.

Satisfied he turned back. “If you want toast with your eggs, there’s some over there.” He nodded to another cupboard next to him before taking out peppers and started washing and cutting them. Focusing on getting them at just the right size he tried to forget about the Adonis sharing the room.

It actually worked. For about ten seconds.

Then Loki appeared next to him, a couple of bread slices in his hands, and he startled so much he almost cut himself.

Loki, the bastard, just raised his eyebrows before occupying himself with the toaster (which he didn’t seem to need help to figure out. See, Thor had been a dumbass).

It was oddly comfortable to work alongside the god, cutting onions and vegetables and frying them before adding the eggs. All the while being aware of the other at his side, movement and warmth and purpose. Strength leashed tightly like a beast that could escape anytime and destroy the universe, yet preferred to sleep next to the fireplace and play with its favorite humans.

Swallowing hard Tony cut his thoughts off. This moment was strange enough, without comparing Loki to a giant wolf or lion. Or thinking about how much he, instead of doing the sensible and running from it, wanted to be fucked by said beast.

He really needed to get rid of that sexual frustration. Especially now that he had more important things to think about.

Yet only when he had put the eggs on a dish, neatly arranged around the fried peppers and bacon and with some of the spices Sam grew up here sprinkled over them, did he start again on the formerly abandoned topic.

“Do you remember what you said? About me confronting Thor once the kids are old enough?”

Yeah, well, that was really dumbly phrased. After all, Tony couldn't imagine Loki had forgotten this plan of his, not when it had sounded like a revenge fantasy that he had harbored for quite some time.

Stilling with the fork halfway to his mouth a shadow fell over Loki's face. “You don't wish to go through with it anymore”, he said.

The worst part was, really, that he didn't sound judgmental. Just sad and tired.

Feeling like world's worst asshole Tony ducked his gaze, his eyes turned firmly to where his fingers played with the strands on the table cloth. “Not exactly”, he evaded. “It's just … you know, I really want to see the asshole get struck low by his own deeds, but … you said Odin wouldn't allow half-mortals on the throne, or to sully the royal line. It just occurred to me that the easiest way for him to do so would be to take them to Asgard and, well … treat them like Aesir?”

“A treatment they aren’t likely to survive”, Loki finished for him. For once his voice was completely toneless and Tony really wished he knew the guy better. Hadn't he thought of this? Or was he offended that Tony would think such of his parents – well, adoptive parents?

Would they do that? Tony had never thought much about what Odin and Frigga might be like – after all he had had only Thor's tales to go by, and between him obviously being his father's favorite and then turning around and showing some true colors that Tony would never have expected of him that didn't make him exactly trustworthy.

On the other hand, Jane? Well, by _her_ account Frigga was an awesome queen, and Odin a giant golden dick who despised mortals more than anything (except maybe the Jotnar and probably to smile once or twice a year). And with Odin being absolute ruler over his little golden world of giant warriors Tony really didn't want to take that chance without some more security measures put into place.

He only became aware of how long they had both been silent when suddenly Loki sighed, a quiet, drawn-out noise that had Tony look up in surprise.

His eggs were still mostly untouched, the fork sunken down into them and Loki's face above them tired and worn in a way that made him look more like Gandalf at his worst than the vibrant young godling he really was.

“You are right”, he finally said, and this time there was no way to miss the pain in his voice. “I have … I fear I still see them too much as my parents … as my father. Even after all he did … he was my father for so long, I didn't think to anticipate such an action from him. But you are right, he might do that. Claim them for the royal family, since Thor has as of yet failed to provide heirs. And for all that he professes to love and forgive me, there is no way a Jotun can sit upon the throne of Asgard.” Shaking his head slightly he sighed again, then offered, a faint, painful smile on his lips: “I owe you an apology, Anthony Stark, for proposing a plan that would have endangered your children.”

Tony really didn't like the defeated way Loki looked right now. Nor did he like that he couldn't take revenge on Thor – there was a reason the team of superheroes he had joined was called _Avengers_ , after all. “It's not your fault. Well, maybe it is, but – well, that doesn't matter right now. You know, I _do_ want to get back at him. Thor, I mean. And I love your plan.” If not for fear of losing his sweets? He would have so done it. There was nothing better than to imagine that Thor had to acknowledge his children and was humiliated right there in front of all his peers.

Just … “Isn't there a way to make sure your asshole of an adoptive father can't get them?”

Loki started to shake his head, then suddenly stopped mid-motion, his eyes growing wide with astonishment and the beginning of a plan. “ _Adoptive_ father”, he repeated, wonder and anticipation transforming his words into fragile little treasures.

Tony stared, not sure whether to ask for clarification when it might break Loki's chain of thoughts. Not that it was easy, sitting still and listening to the tic-tac of the seconds going by while Loki worked through the steps of a plan to get them both the satisfaction they were seeking.

Really, anyone who ever said Tony Stark didn’t do patience was proven wrong in these endless five minutes or so.

Finally awareness returned to Loki’s eyes and a small smile curved his lips just so. “I think I have an idea. It will be beautiful and elegant and bring peace not only to us but to the nine realms as well.”

Tony couldn't help but stare. In this moment, with his plans all fallen into a new pattern that would gain him his desired outcome, completely self-assured and high on his intelligence, on seeing the world in a way that no-one else saw, with that evil little smirk on his pale lips and a flush high on his cheekbones, eyes blazing with satisfaction, Loki looked hotter than anyone else Tony had ever seen. Feeling heat flush up through his body, thickening his cock and making his heart beat faster, he couldn't help but respond to the sudden image of Loki, King of the World. Standing on top of the universe and having all his loyal subjects kneel to him, and oh, how he wanted to kneel there, too, before the throne and suck that di-

Erhm. Okay, so maybe he really needed some alone time. Preferably before Loki noticed what effect he had on him.

  


  


  


  


  


  


  


  


  


  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you're interested, come bother me on [tumblr](http://nightalp.tumblr.com/)

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked, and I would be delighted should you decide to leave a comment.


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